The copy of Rodin's monument here in the Victoria Tower Gardens is a cast bought by the British government from the sculptor Francois Auguste Rene Rodin (1840-1917) in 1911 and placed here, with his approval, in 1913. (Originally placed on a high pedestal this was altered to the present arrangement in 1952.) The work was commissioned from Rodin by the city of Calais in a contract signed 28/01/1885 when he was paid an advance of FFr15,000. It commemorates an incident in 1347 when the town of Calais had been besieged by Edward III (1312-77) for eleven months. He agreed to lift the siege if six hostages presented themselves at his camp. Jean Froissart (dates of around 1333-1404) reports in his 'Chronicle' that 'At last a most rich burgess of all the town, called Eustache de St Pierre, rose up and said openly: 'Sirs, great and small, great mischief it should be , to suffer to die such people as be in this town ...when there is means to save them... wherefore, to save them I will be the first to put my life in jeopardy.' He and the five who joined him expected to be executed by Edward (as is apparent in the way Rodin presents them) but Edward spared them. The work is one of the greatest pieces in the oeuvre of this sculptor who is considered by some to have been the greatest sculptor since Michelangelo.

O/S Co-ords:3028.7927
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Rodin