Jean d'Aire

A grim-looking man in a long robe stands with a noose around his neck, holding a large key in his hands. This life-size bronze statue is part of Rodin’s series The Burghers of Calais (1884–1886). The city of Calais commissioned Rodin to make this group of statues commemorating the six citizens who offered themselves up as hostages so that their town would be spared, during the English siege under Edward III. It is one of Rodin’s most famous works and only twelve copies were cast. Rodin was the last sculptor of the old tradition, inspired by the sculpture of Michelangelo and the French Gothic style and taking nature as his starting point. At the same time, however, his abstract forms and the expressive force of his sculptures place his works firmly in the modern era. The drama of this statue is reinforced by the lack of a high pedestal, so that the viewer literally comes eye to eye with Mayor Jean d’Aire. This statue was acquired in 1930 and was one of the museum’s first purchases of a non-Dutch work of art.