Lot number 3353 - Auction 150
'JEAN D'AIRE'

AUGUSTE RODIN 1840 Paris - 1917 Meudon (after) 'JEAN D'AIRE' Bronze, dark patina, on rectangular marble base (H. 3 cm). Total height 49.5, W. 18, 12.5 cm, weight approx. 13.69 kg. Posthumous casting, marked 'A. Rodin' on the back of the casting, dated '1987', numbered '19/349', foundry mark 'Strassacker Kunstguss Süssen' and 'RAC' on the plinth. Jean d'Aire, holding the symbolic key to the city in his hands, is part of the world-famous sculpture group Les Bourgeois de Calais, which Auguste Rodin created between 1884 and 1889 on commission from the city of Calais. The monument honors the six citizens who voluntarily surrendered to the English King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War in order to save their city. Partially rubbed and loss of patina. Literature: See Cladel: Rodin, sa vie glorieuse, sa vie inconnue, Paris 1936; A. Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin, Paris 2007.