Jean d’Aire

This compact bronze piece is a small-scale cast of one of the 6 large figures that comprise the monument to the Burghers of Calais. this task was entrusted to Auguste Rodin by the French city's town hall in 1884 and was erected in 1895. Jean d'Aire was one of the 6 burghers of the city, led by Eustache de Saint-Pierre, who, during the Hundred Years' War in 1347, offered English invaders the keys to the city, and their lives, in exchange for the safety of the citizens. Impressed by the patriotism of this gesture, the British ruler of the time, Edward III, spared their lives. Far from being the most recognizable example of Rodin's titans, the figure still demonstrates the innovative and painstaking approach the artist took towards his materials, and its experimentation regarding the body, in which the figure, caught in the act of taking up the keys of the city in this case, showcases an extreme, almost unnatural stiffness.