Auguste Rodin

Musée Rodin, Paris

Calais, Musée des Beaux-Arts (on loan from Musée Rodin 1974-2008)
Calais, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Les Bourgeois de Calais. Fortunes d'un mythe, 1995

Léon Maillard, Auguste Rodin, Statuaire: Etudes sur quelques artistes originaux, Paris, 1899, pp. 63-66
Camille Mauclair, Auguste Rodin: The Man - His Ideas - His Works, London, 1905, pp. 34-39, illustrations of the monument pp. 36 & 38
Frederick Lawton, The Life and Work of Auguste Rodin, London, 1906, pp. 145-154, illustrations of the monument pp. 145 & 151
Muriel Ciolkowska, Rodin, London, 1912, pp. 42-49, illustration of the monument p. 44
Gustave Coquiot, Le Vrai Rodin, Paris, 1913, pp. 131-140, illustration of the monument p. 132
Judith Cladel, Rodin: The Man and his Art, New York, 1917, pp. 290-296
Rainer Maria Rilke, Auguste Rodin, Leipzig, 1922, no. 7, illustration of the plaster of the monument
Léonce Bénédite, Rodin, London, 1924, illustration of the plaster of the monument pl. XXII
Georges Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1929, no. 132, illustration of the plaster of the monument p. 63
Judith Cladel, Rodin: sa vie glorieuse, sa vie inconnue, Paris, 1936, pp. 152-160
Victor Frisch & Joseph T. Shipley, Auguste Rodin: A Biography, New York, 1939, pp. 136-150
Edouard Herriot, Rodin, Paris, 1949, illustrations of the monument pp. 28-29
Marcel Aubert, Rodin sculptures, Paris, 1952, illustration of the monument pp. 34-35
Cécile Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1962, illustration of the monument pp. 82-83
Ionel Jianou & Cécile Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1967, illustration of the monument pl. 41
Robert Descharnes & Jean-François Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, 1967, pp. 106-115, illustration of the monument p. 114
Albert E. Elsen, Rodin, London, 1974, pp. 70-87, illustrations of the monument pp. 71, 84 & 85
Un Musée - une oeuvre - Auguste Rodin - La seconde Maquette pour le Monument des Bourgeois de Calais, 1975-76, illustrated
John L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 376-402, illustration of the monument p. 377
Claudie Judrin, Monique Laurent & Dominique Viéville, Auguste Rodin. Le monument des Bourgeois de Calais (1884-1895), Paris, 1977, no. 33, illustration of the plaster of Deuxième maquette p. 172; no. 34, illustration of another cast of Deuxième maquette p. 173
Catherine Lampert, Rodin Sculpture and Drawings, London, 1986, pp. 101-114
Rodin, The B. Gerald Cantor Collection (exhibition catalogue), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, illustration of another cast of Deuxième maquette p. 51
Ruth Butler, Rodin: The Shape of Genius, New Haven & London, 1993, pp. 199-213, illustration of the plaster of the monument p. 212
Annette Haudiquet & Hélène Heyriès, Autour du Monument des Bourgeois de Calais. Guide des sculptures monumentales à Calais, Calais, 1999, illustrated p. 26
Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Rodin, The Burghers of Calais, Paris, 2001, illustrations of the plaster of Deuxième maquette pp. 22-23
Iain Ross & Anthea Snow (eds.), Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession, London, 2001, no. 37, illustration of the monument pp. 54-55
Philippe Cassez, Stéphane Curveiller & Magali Domain, Bulletin historique et artistique du Calaisis, Calais, December 2003, illustrated p. 58
Barbara Forest, Les Liaisons heureuses: nouvelle présentation des collections beaux-arts du Musée de Calais, Calais, 2006-07, illustrated pp. 50, 51, 57 & 68
Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin, Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin, Paris, 2007, vol. I, pp. 208-241, illustration of the plaster of Deuxième maquette p. 210; the present six casts listed separately pp. 217, 222, 225, 228, 232 & 234 

Modulated brown-green patina. This work is in very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In 1347, during the siege of the town of Calais in the Hundred Years' War, its six celebrated burghers offered themselves as hostages to the king of England, Edward III. The king agreed to lift the siege on condition that the burghers presented themselves in his camp as hostages, carrying the keys to the city. Their heroic act is commemorated in Rodin's Les Bourgeois de Calais, now widely recognised as one of the greatest achievements in early modern sculpture.

 

Between 1884, when he was first approached by the city of Calais, and 1895, when the monument was unveiled, Rodin worked tirelessly on developing the character of the individual figures, while at the same time contemplating the relationship between them. Rather than idealising the men, he sought to explore the physical and psychological tension occasioned by this historic event. His second maquette, sent to Calais in July 1885, was criticised by the committee for emphasising the men's individuality, instead of focusing on the idea of collective heroism. Unperturbed by this criticism, Rodin continued developing the expressive quality of his subjects.

 

During the inauguration of the monument on 13th June 1895 in Calais, Octave Mirbeau proclaimed: 'The movement, the attitudes, the expressions are so true, of such a genuine human feeling, that, behind the group, ready to go, we can actually hear the buzzing of the crowd encouraging them and sobbing, the cheers and farewells. No other complication, no scenic concern of the group; no allegory, not one attribute. Only expressive, fine forms, so expressive that they become ready states of mind' ('Auguste Rodin', in Le Journal, 4th June 1895, quoted in Catherine Lampert, 'The Burghers of Calais', in Rodin (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2006-07, p. 236).

 

The first maquette for Les Bourgeois de Calais dates from 1884. The second maquette (fig. 1), as well as studies of single figures, both nude and clothed, were executed in the following year. No bronze edition of the complete Deuxième maquette is known to have been cast before the Musée Rodin edition, completed between 1969 and 1977. Only five casts from this edition have been kept together as the full group of six figures; they are now in the collections of the Musée Rodin in Paris, Pola Museum of Art in Japan, the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University in California, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and the present work, which is the only complete cast of the Deuxième maquette available on the market.

The final monument was cast in an edition of twelve examples, all of which now belong to important museums and public collections, including the Town Hall of Calais (fig. 2), the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, Musée Rodin in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and a cast in front of the Houses of Parliament in London.