The Burghers of Calais

Auguste Rodin depicted six citizens of Calais who offered their lives to save their city from English siege in 1347. Rather than heroic poses, Rodin showed them haggard and despairing, shuffling toward expected execution. The English king ultimately spared them.

Rodin controversially placed all six figures at ground level rather than on a traditional pedestal, forcing viewers to confront them as fellow humans. Each figure shows a different response to impending death: resignation, anguish, defiance. The city of Calais initially rejected the unconventional monument.

Bronze casts stand in Calais, at the Musée Rodin in Paris, and at several other locations worldwide.