Description
This larger-than-life head ranks among Rodin’s most renowned works, drawn from his 1889 ensemble The Burghers of Calais. Here, Pierre de Wissant’s inner torment is magnified to almost overwhelming effect. The head’s tilt, further emphasized by the sculpture’s unconventional base, deepens the sense of anguish. That anguish stemmed from Wissant’s choice to stand alongside five other civic leaders who agreed to give their lives in 1367 to end the English occupation of besieged Calais.
