In another detail of the doors, we see Ugolino and his Children and the same
¿ gures enlarged to more than life-size in a plaster sculpture at the Musée
d’Orsay in Paris. In Dante’s Inferno, Count Ugolino was a traitor; he had
been locked in a tower, together with his four sons, where they starved to
death, one by one. The harrowing story is given form by Rodin, who cares
little for Ugolino’s crime and only for his cruel fate.
The ¿ rst major public commission that Rodin competed for and won was
a commemorative sculpture to honor the heroic medieval citizens of the
city of Calais, on the coast of France on the English Channel, who had
offered to sacri¿ ce themselves to save their city.
The competition was announced in 1884. The
commission was from the city of Calais and
was to stand before the city hall. The result from
Rodin was his Burghers of Calais (1884–1889).
From the Chronicles of Froissart, we learn the
story of the siege of Calais by the English in the
Hundred Years’ War. The city had withstood a
nearly year-long siege but capitulated in 1347,
when six of its leading citizens surrendered themselves as hostages so the
siege would be lifted and the citizens would be fed. These six citizens—the
burghers—expected to be executed. Through the intervention of the French-
born queen of Edward III, they were not, but what Rodin shows us is the
expectation of death and the ways in which these six respond as they leave
the city that they had saved. As demanded by the English, they have put on
sackcloth and halters of rope, and one of them carries the keys to the city to
deliver to the enemy.
Our example shows the cast that belongs to Philadelphia’s Rodin Museum.
Looking at the front of the group, we see the stoicism of the burgher with the
keys to the right, as well as the bent old man, embodying wisdom. This is the
principal view of the sculpture, and it has an opening that seems meant for
us. As we can see, the sculpture has a green patina. Patina originally meant
the green or greenish-blue crust or ¿ lm that forms on bronze or copper as it
naturally oxidizes over a period of time. However, a patina can be induced
by means of chemicals, and many sculptors, Rodin included, experimented
The pose of The
Thinker is complex
and arti¿ cial, but it
conveys intensity
of thought.