Rodin, Auguste

Autograph letter signed ("Rodin"), 3 pages (6 1/2 x 4 in.; 165 x 102 mm), with 2 original pen-and-ink drawings, ?Paris, 22 February 1886, to Mme Omer Dewavrin; horizontal fold, vertical fold of bifolium reinforced with linen tape, some light foxing.  Matted, glazed on both sides, and framed.

Autograph letter signed ("Rodin"), 3 pages (6 1/2 x 4 in.; 165 x 102 mm), with 2 original pen-and-ink drawing, ?Paris, 22 February 1886, to Mme. Omer Dewavrin; horizontal fold, vertical fold of bifolium reinforced with linen tape, some light foxing. Matted, glazed on both sides, and framed.
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A fine letter with 2 original drawings, written to Mme Dewavrin, wife of the mayor of Calais, while Rodin was at work on his masterpiece, The Burghers of Calais.  The idea for a monumental sculpture group depicting an important event in the Seige of Calais during the Hundred Years' War was originally proposed by Mayor Omer Dewavrin of that city. Five artists were asked to submit proposals for a monument. The city council of Calais approved Rodin's controversial design, and the artist began work on the project in 1884.  By January 1886, three of the large figures had been modelled by Rodin, despite a financial crisis in the Calais city government.  The next month, Rodin writes to the mayor's wife asking if she might use her influence to help him in receiving a payment from the city.  He thanks her for her support in "cette bataille de la vie, où je suis si distrait."   Rodin ends the letter with a postscript in which he first gives an update on his work on the sculpture ("le travail avance beaucoup et j'y travaille avec rage[?]."  He then asks after the Dewavrin family: "Comment vont vos jolis enfants?"  He ends the letter with a drawing of the two parents watching their four young children dance in a circle (anticipating the numerous drawings of dancers Rodin was execute a decade later).  On the verso of this closing sentiment, is an ink drawing of a headless figure with a raised arm, possibly a reference to the 'Pierre de Wissant' figure in The Burghers of Calais.   Above this sketch is a column of figures, which total 294.19, possibly the number of francs Rodin is asking in expenses.

Although the work was completed by Rodin in 1889, it was not installed at the entrance of the Jardin du Front Sud in Calais until 1895.