The Burghers of Calais, First Maquette
Modeled 1884, Musee Rodin cast 5/12 in 1973, Godard Foundry
Bronze
13 3/8 x 13 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
“I have not shown them grouped in a triumphant apotheosis; such glorification of their heroism would not have corresponded to anything real. On the contrary, I have, as it were, threaded them one behind the other, because in the indecision of the last inner combat which ensues, between their devotion to their cause and their fear of dying, each of them is isolated in front of his conscience. They are still questioning themselves to know if they have the strength to accomplish the supreme sacrifice, their soul pushes them onward, but their feet refuse to walk. They drag themselves along painfully, as much because of the feebleness to which famine has reduced them as because of the terrifying nature of the sacrifice.”
From the publication L’Art et les Artistes , Paris, April, 1914. (As quoted in The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin by John Tancock, 1976.)
