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Source Description
In 1884 Rodin received a commission to create a large public monument honoring six French men who volunteered to be taken prisoner by an English army in exchange for the English releasing the town of Calais from a brutal 11-month siege. This reduced cast depicts one of the volunteers from the monument. Rather than idealized heroes, Rodin portrays the prominent citizens known as burghers as ordinary men experiencing personal confrontations with death. Jean d’Aire faces his fate with stoic resolve. The thick folds of his tunic weigh heavily on his body, as if symbolic of an internal struggle between his willingness to sacrifice his life and a desire to live. His intense glare into space seems to betray the dread and anxiety raging within his mind. Immensely popular as an independent sculpture, Rodin made numerous versions in various sizes.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
98103
label
Jean d'Aire
core
obj
dtoType
sculpture
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
98103
contentType
sculpture
title
Jean d'Aire
description
In 1884 Rodin received a commission to create a large public monument honoring six French men who volunteered to be taken prisoner by an English army in exchange for the English releasing the town of Calais from a brutal 11-month siege. This reduced cast depicts one of the volunteers from the monument. Rather than idealized heroes, Rodin portrays the prominent citizens known as burghers as ordinary men experiencing personal confrontations with death. Jean d’Aire faces his fate with stoic resolve. The thick folds of his tunic weigh heavily on his body, as if symbolic of an internal struggle between his willingness to sacrifice his life and a desire to live. His intense glare into space seems to betray the dread and anxiety raging within his mind. Immensely popular as an independent sculpture, Rodin made numerous versions in various sizes.
date
1884
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79483381
creators
5925
genreSpecific
Sculpture
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 47 x 16.5 x 12.1 cm (18 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.)
cul
France, 19th century
accession
1917.723
Source extras
tec
bronze
tombstone
Jean d'Aire, 1884. Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). Bronze; overall: 47 x 16.5 x 12.1 cm (18 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Loïe Fuller, 1917.723
collection
Mod Euro - Sculpture 1800-1960
inscriptions
inscription
signed front of base: "A. Rodin." Inscribed back of base: "Alexis Rudier/Fondeur, Paris."
citations
citation
"Modern Sculpture at the Museum." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 4, no. 6 (1917): 108-09.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 108-109
citation
"Rodin Memorial Exhibition." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 4, no. 9 (1917): 162-63.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 162-163
citation
"Report of the Museum's Second Year." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 5, no. 6/7 (1918): 69-79.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 70
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25136208
citation
Tacha, Athena. <em>Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 95-96, cat. no. VIII; Reproduced: p. [43], Plate 61
citation
Tacha, Athena. <em>A Supplement to Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 128S-129S, cat. no. VIII
creditline
Gift of Loïe Fuller
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:17:53.799000
sourceId
98103
dept
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
coll
Mod Euro - Sculpture 1800-1960
med
bronze
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
b86e8200b488969c