Pierre de Wiessant, Nude Study

Auguste Rodin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

To fully capture the physicality of human expression, Rodin first modeled the figures of The Burghers of Calais (1989.407) as nudes and later draped them with clothing. Here, he portrays Pierre de Wiessant as a strong, lean youth. Reflecting on another study of Pierre’s noble resignation to death, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, "This figure [could be] a monument to all who have died young."

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