Know your classic

Rodin8217;s sculptures often exposed the joint lines of the piece molds in which they were cast, as well as the 8216;8216;unfinished8217;8217; marks of modeling and editing. Fragmentation and repetition as instances of the sculptor8217;s processes were also made evident. . In 8216;The Burghers of Calais8217;, Rodin revivified a medieval story of six citizens who had volunteered as sacrificial hostages to an English king in a deal to end a wasting wartime siege. Dissatisfied with old conventions of summing up such a story in one hero or rhetorical gesture, he decided to treat all six equally. He decomposed the event, into its smallest bits, studying every arm, every hand, and even every finger, as an individual entity. When building up the monument from this palette he gave two of the final figures the same head, and a third the same face only slightly altered. Identical fingers, hands, and feet also keep reappearing on different bodies, in different orientations, or modified only by flexions. He also made all their heads level.