Auguste Rodin Analysis

In 1885,Auguste Rodin was commissioned by the French city of Calais to create a sculpture that commemorate six brave men of the French coastal town Calais, which in 1347 during the Hundred-Years War which was a war between England and France. These six men volunteer into captivity of King Edward III to save their town from extermination.Though King Edward III had made a deal with France which says that they would no longer get hostages and execute them but in return they would need six men of Calais to held them hostage and have to wear sack cloths and robes around there neck as well carrying the keys to the city.The leader of the Burghers was Eustache de Saint-Pierre along with Jean d’Aire,Andrieu d’Andres,Jean de Fiennes,Pierre,and Jacques de Wissant. Though in the end their lives would be spared.

Rodin characterized the “old man” with a sense of sorrow because when we looked at him we clearly see that his body is bent,old,and he’s tired. From all of these men he’s the one who has the lease to lose because he’s the oldest of the group. Next,is Jean d’ Aire which is the man holding the key to the city he is in the far right next to the old man. The sculpture of Jean d 'Aire we see that Rodin likes to use hands to communicate because when we take a closer look at the sculpture we see that Jean d’Aire hands are huge and his hands bite into a massive key which is the key to the city. The hands and the key symbolizes Calais which they are given up to the English. As well when we examine Jean d’Aire face we could see that he is almost biting his lip to hold on to his emotions because he knows that he is going to die. Next up is Andrieu d 'Andres which he is behind the man with the key of the city. The reason why Andrieu d’ Andres is hiding behind the man with the key is because Rodian had designed The