Auguste Rodin | The Burghers of Calais

Today's mini-episode is about Auguste Rodin and his sculpture of The Burghers of Calais. The story behind the piece is an inspiring tale that defines courage. During the Hundred Years' War, the English had the city of Calais surrounded. As the days went on and the French army was unable to break the siege, the townspeople were forced to begin negotiating terms of surrender. They were told the town would be spared if 6 burghers (a burgher was a title, so these were the town leaders) would sacrifice themselves. Six men stepped up. While they were ultimately spared, one can imagine the mix of feelings as some might feel proud to do something noble and heroic and yet terrified at the grim reality. Traditional depictions of these men showed them as larger-than-life heroic figures, but Rodin gives us the stark reality. I think the brilliance of Rodin's work is that it recognizes that true courage means facing reality, and experiencing fear but still finding the strength to do what is right. Arts Madness 2025 Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays). Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices