The Weeping Burgher (Andrieu d'Andres)

Auguste Rodin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is a reduced version of one of the figures of the monumental group The Burghers of Calais (see 1989.407), modeled between 1884 and 1885 and unveiled at Calais in 1895. Rodin sought to represent varying degrees of heroism and grief in The Burghers of Calais. While some figures embody stoic self-sacrifice, others succumb to fear. This figure, unable to disguise his emotional distress, externalizes the suffering of his brethren by grasping his bowed head with massive, outstretched hands.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art