A Burgher of Calais (Jean d'Aire)

Auguste Rodin

National Gallery of Art

Cast in bronze, this free-standing sculpture shows a man with a gaunt face wearing a robe that falls in long, vertical folds as he holds an oversized skeleton key down in front of his thighs. In this photograph, the man’s body faces us but he turns his head to our left to look in that direction, his chin sightly raised. He has close-cropped hair, sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, a wide, square chin, and his thin lips are downturned. The long-sleeved robe drops heavily to his feet, and the toes of one bare foot peek out. A hint of a raised, round halter like a yoke around his neck shows from under his robe near his left shoulder, on our right. Most of the surface has a dark green patina except for a few lighter places, as on his sleeve to our left and in the thick drapes of his robe. A few areas are rubbed gold, including the tip of his nose and the knuckles of his hands.