AUGUSTE RODIN

(1840-1917)

L'un des Bourgeois de Calais: Jean de Fiennes, Nu, Grand Modèle dit aussi 'Nu monumental'

Footnotes

This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin Catalogue critique de l'oeuvre sculpté, currently being prepared by the Comité Auguste Rodin at Galerie Brame & Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay.

Provenance
Musée Rodin, Paris.
Bruton Gallery, Somerset (acquired from the above in November 1988).
Private collection, Australia (acquired from the above); their sale, Sotheby's, New York, November 11, 1999, lot 216.
Acquired by the late owner from the above.

Exhibited
Somerset, Bruton Gallery, Auguste Rodin 1840–1917, Joseph Bernard 1866–1931, Two Sculptors, September - October 1991, no. 30.
Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Rodin & French Sculpture, July 1995 - June 1996.

Literature
C. Judrin, M. Laurent & D. Viéville, Auguste Rodin, Le monument des Bourgeois de Calais (1884-1895) dans les collections du musée Rodin et du musée des Beaux-Arts de Calais, exh. cat., Musée Rodin & Musée des Beaux-Arts de Calais, Paris, 1977, no. 80 (plaster version illustrated).
Exh. cat., Deux palais pour Rodin, Palais des Papes, Avignon, 1996 (another cast illustrated p. 102).
A. Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin, Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin, Vol. I, Paris, 2007, no. S.627 (another cast illustrated p. 225).


Auguste Rodin's mastery lay not only in his revolutionary approach to form and expression but in his ability to translate human struggle and spiritual fervor into sculptural monumentality. Two works exemplifying this are Buste colossal de Saint Jean-Baptiste and L'un des Bourgeois de Calais: Jean de Fiennes, Nu, Grand Modèle dit aussi 'Nu monumental'. Though not conceived during the same timeframe, both pieces embody Rodin's devotion to portraying humanity at its most vulnerable and transcendent. Each figure, in its own way, stands as a testament to the sculptor's fascination with sacrifice, faith, and the universal drama of the human condition.

Rodin first began his studies for Saint Jean-Baptiste in 1878, a pivotal moment when he had been accused of casting sculptures directly from life. Determined to silence his critics, he deliberately enlarged the scale of Buste colossal de Saint Jean-Baptiste, transforming the head of the prophet into a monumental embodiment of sculptural truth and artistic conviction. The resulting work captures the raw, elemental energy of Rodin's model, César Pignatelli, an Italian peasant from the Abruzzi region whose powerful presence captivated the artist.

In 1913, Rodin recalled his first encounter with Pignatelli:

'As soon as I saw him, I was filled with admiration; this rough, hairy man expressed his violence in his bearing, his features and his physical strength, yet also the mystical character of his race. I immediately thought of a Saint John the Baptist, in other words, a man of nature, a visionary, a believer, a precursor who came to announce one greater than himself.'

It was this duality, his earthly vigor combined with spiritual intensity, that inspired Rodin to create one of his most commanding busts. The roiling locks of hair, deeply set eyes turned contemplatively to the side, and parted lips suggest a man caught between the physical and divine realms. Rodin's manipulation of texture, particularly in the contrast between the tousled hair and smooth, reflective skin, evokes both the rustic immediacy of his sitter and the transcendent aura of a biblical prophet.

Pignatelli's rugged features did not belong solely to Rodin. Henri Matisse, then a young sculptor seeking his own artistic identity, also used Pignatelli as a model for his second sculpture, The Serf (1900). In doing so, Matisse knowingly confronted France's most celebrated sculptor, engaging in a silent dialogue with Rodin through the shared figure of this peasant muse. Pignatelli thus became a living conduit between generations, bridging Rodin's late Romanticism with Matisse's emerging modernism.

The casting history of Buste colossal de Saint Jean-Baptiste further attests to its importance within Rodin's oeuvre. From 1986 to 1989, the Émile Godard Foundry produced a full edition of twelve bronzes for the Musée Rodin, drawn from the plaster model held in the museum's own collection. The example numbered 'I/IV' was retained by the Musée Rodin in Paris. Executed using the sand casting method, the foundry's technical precision lent the work an impressive physicality that complements Rodin's dynamic modelling.

In Buste colossal de Saint Jean-Baptiste, Rodin elevated a humble peasant into an enduring symbol of spiritual power and human resilience. The colossal scale, expressive modelling, and profound intensity combine to create not merely a portrait but a universal evocation of faith and humanity's eternal striving toward transcendence.

If Saint Jean-Baptiste embodies the individual's spiritual struggle, L'un des Bourgeois de Calais: Jean de Fiennes, Nu, Grand Modèle dit aussi 'Nu monumental' captures collective sacrifice and moral courage. Conceived in 1886 as part of Rodin's commission for the Monument aux Bourgeois de Calais, the work commemorates one of the most poignant episodes of the Hundred Years' War. In 1347, after a year-long siege, six citizens of Calais volunteered to surrender themselves to King Edward III of England in exchange for their city's freedom. Dressed in sackcloth and nooses as the king demanded, they offered their lives in an act of selfless devotion—an act immortalized by Rodin's revolutionary vision.

Jean de Fiennes, the youngest of the six burghers and captain of Calais, was responsible for opening the gates of the city and was the first to approach Edward III. His example inspired the others to follow. For centuries, his name remained lost to history until it was rediscovered in 1863, when Baron Kervyn de Lettenhove identified him from a manuscript in the Vatican Library.

Rodin explored Jean de Fiennes through a series of individual modellos, examining the shifting balance between fear and courage. The nude model, Nu monumental, depicts him standing in contrapposto, arms open and palms turned upward in an unmistakable gesture of surrender. The pose conveys both vulnerability and spiritual resolve, the tension of a man ready to sacrifice himself yet unwilling to relinquish his dignity. Seen from every angle, the sculpture's monumental form invites the viewer into an intimate engagement with moral strength laid bare.

When Les Bourgeois de Calais was first unveiled, critics immediately recognized it as a radical departure from the conventions of heroic public monuments. Rather than exalting triumph, Rodin depicted the burghers in the moment of their torment; each figure wrestling with the terror and dignity of impending death. 'I did not group them together in a triumphant apotheosis,' Rodin explained, 'for such a glorification of their heroism would not in any way have corresponded to reality.' Instead, he sought to capture 'how the body, even when exhausted by the cruelest suffering, still clings to life, how it still holds sway over the soul enamored of bravery.'

Contemporary critics were awed by its power: 'I do not know, in any art, of an evocation of souls so splendidly compelling,' wrote Octave Mirbeau in 1889. More than a century later, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain reaffirmed its enduring significance:

'The monument swiftly moved beyond the context of local history to take its place alongside the great works of sculpture. By rejecting the descriptive style of conventional public monuments in order to portray what real people felt... Rodin had created one of the masterpieces of a period that focused on man and his inner world.'

The casting history of Jean de Fiennes, Nu, Grand Modèle dit aussi 'Nu monumental' mirrors that of Rodin's most significant posthumous bronzes. The Musée Rodin began producing editions of the work in 1967, based on the original plaster held in its collection. Twelve bronzes were made, numbered 1/8 to 8/8 and I/IV to IV/IV. The first cast, 1/8, was executed by the Georges Rudier Foundry, with the subsequent eleven realized by the Coubertin Foundry between 1977 and 1990. Today, casts of this noble figure reside in major collections including the Musée Rodin, Paris; Museo Soumaya, Mexico; the National Gallery of Australia; and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The present bronze was produced by the Coubertin Foundry in April 1987 and has been publicly exhibited at the Bruton Gallery, Somerset, UK, in 1991, and later at the renowned Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK, in 1995.

Both Buste colossal de Saint Jean-Baptiste and L'un des Bourgeois de Calais: Jean de Fiennes, Nu, Grand Modèle dit aussi 'Nu monumental' reveal Rodin's genius for transforming human experience into sculptural drama. Whether the visionary prophet or the self-sacrificing citizen, Rodin's figures continue to speak with unflinching honesty to the complexities of courage, faith, and the human soul. For over a quarter century, these two pieces were cherished cornerstones of the private art collection of Gene Hackman and accomplished classical pianist Betsy Arakawa.