Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010635Heroic Head of Pierre de Wissant, One of the Burghers of Calais
About the Artwork
This sculpture depicts one of the figures in Rodin’s large public monument The Burghers of Calais (1884–89), featuring six French men who volunteered to be taken prisoner by the English in exchange for lifting the siege of Calais during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). Pierre de Wissant’s anguished expression suggests extreme mental suffering as he contemplates his expected execution. Rodin exhibited a life-size version of the figure as an independent work before completing the monument. He later made multiple versions in various sizes and media.
Inscriptions
inscribed at neck, left: A.Rodin; inscribed lower back: Alexis Rudier/Fondeur-Paris.
Provenance
Purchased by Mrs. Emery May Holden Norweb in 1917, but held in Paris and sent to the CMA in 1920.
Exhibition history
Rodin. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (organizer) (April 29-September 8, 1963). Loïe Fuller. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 10-June 3, 1984). Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009). Gallery One 2012. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2012-March 5, 2017). Rodin—100 Years. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2017-May 13, 2018). Rodin-100 Years. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2017-May 13, 2018). Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA (organizer) (June 18-September 18, 2022) https://www.clarkart.edu/microsites/rodin/; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA (October 21, 2022-January 15, 2023).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
- Date
- 1886
- Medium
- bronze
- Dimensions
- Overall: 83.5 x 47 x 55.3 cm (32 7/8 x 18 1/2 x 21 3/4 in.)
- Type
- Sculpture
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- The Norweb Collection
- Accession no.
- 1920.120
More by Auguste Rodin in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00010635
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