Cabeza monumental de Pierre de Wissant

This larger-than-life portrait head (nearly three times the size of a human head) depicts one of the figures featured in Rodin’s public monument, The Burghers of Calais. The subject of this sculpture is a man named Pierre de Wissant. He was one of six French men who volunteered to be taken prisoner by the English, in exchange for freeing the city of Calais during the Hundred Years War (1337 to 1453). The unusual base of the sculpture emphasizes the tilt of the man’s head. It also draws attention to his pained facial expression, which shows his distressed mental and emotional state as he waits to be executed.

Rodin used a “stand-in” live model to create this sculpture because Pierre de Wissant lived hundreds of years before the artist was born. Pierre de Wissant was a recurring figure in Rodin’s sculptural work.

tags: emociones, conflicto, impacto, interdependencia, perspectiva, poder, textura