Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (20 June 1833 – 8 September 1922) was a French painter, Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur , art collector and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts .
116-612: Bonnat was born in Bayonne , but from 1846 to 1853 he lived in Madrid , where his father owned a bookshop. While tending his father's shop, he copied engravings of works by the Old Masters, developing a passion for drawing. In Madrid he received his artistic training under Madrazo . He later worked in Paris , where he became known as a leading portraitist, never without a commission. His many portraits show
232-450: A Belgian soldier, the figure drew inspiration from Michelangelo's Dying Slave , which Rodin had observed at the Louvre . Attempting to combine Michelangelo's mastery of the human form with his own sense of human nature, Rodin studied his model from all angles, at rest and in motion; he mounted a ladder for additional perspective, and made clay models, which he studied by candlelight. The result
348-423: A free studio, granting Rodin a new level of artistic freedom. Soon, he stopped working at the porcelain factory in 1882; his income came from private commissions. In 1883, Rodin agreed to supervise a course for sculptor Alfred Boucher in his absence, where he met the 18-year-old Camille Claudel . The two formed a passionate but stormy relationship and influenced each other artistically. Claudel inspired Rodin as
464-522: A greater degree than his contemporaries, Rodin believed that an individual's character was revealed by his physical features. Rodin's talent for surface modeling allowed him to let every part of the body speak for the whole. The male's passion in The Thinker is suggested by the grip of his toes on the rock, the rigidness of his back, and the differentiation of his hands. Speaking of The Thinker , Rodin illuminated his aesthetic: "What makes my Thinker think
580-664: A medal of honour in Paris in 1869, going on to become one of the leading artists of his day. Bonnat went on to win the Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur and became a professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1882. Bonnat was quite popular with American students in Paris. In addition to his native French, he spoke Spanish and Italian and knew English well, to the relief of many monolingual Americans. In May 1905 he succeeded Paul Dubois as director of
696-422: A model for many of his figures, and she was a talented sculptor, assisting him on commissions as well as creating her own works. Her Bust of Rodin was displayed to critical acclaim at the 1892 Salon. Although busy with The Gates of Hell , Rodin won other commissions. He pursued an opportunity to create a historical monument for the town of Calais . For a monument to French author Honoré de Balzac , Rodin
812-553: A part-time position as a designer. The offer was in part a gesture of reconciliation, and Rodin accepted. That part of Rodin which appreciated 18th-century tastes was aroused, and he immersed himself in designs for vases and table ornaments that brought the factory renown across Europe. The artistic community appreciated his work in this vein, and Rodin was invited to Paris Salons by such friends as writer Léon Cladel . During his early appearances at these social events, Rodin seemed shy; in his later years, as his fame grew, he displayed
928-452: A realm where forms existed for their own sake. Notable examples are The Walking Man , Meditation without Arms , and Iris, Messenger of the Gods . Rodin saw suffering and conflict as hallmarks of modern art. "Nothing, really, is more moving than the maddened beast, dying from unfulfilled desire and asking in vain for grace to quell its passion." Charles Baudelaire echoed those themes and
1044-717: A rich historical past. Its heritage is expressed in its architecture, the diversity of collections in museums, its gastronomic specialties, and traditional events such as the noted Fêtes de Bayonne . The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bayonnais or Bayonnaises . While the modern Basque spelling is Baiona and the same in Gascon Occitan , "the name Bayonne poses a number of problems both historical and linguistic which have still not been clarified". There are different interpretations of its meaning. The termination -onne in Bayonne can come from many in hydronyms -onne or toponyms derived from that. In certain cases
1160-604: A separate judicial district: the Seneschal of Lannes a "single subdivision of Guyenne during the English period" which had jurisdiction over a wide area including Bayonne, Dax and Saint-Sever and which exercised civil justice, criminal jurisdiction within the competence of the district councilors. Over time, the "Seneschal of the Sword", which was at Dax, lost any role other than protocol, and Bayonne, along with Dax and Saint-Sever, became
1276-488: A shred of evidence to support this projection. In the four layers of sub-soil along the foundation of the Gothic cathedral (in the "apse of the cathedral" area), a 2-metre depth was found of old objects from the end of the 1st century—in particular sigillated Gallic ceramics from Montans imitating Italian styles, thin-walled bowls, and fragments of amphorae . In the "southern sector" near the cloister door, there were objects from
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#17330939032831392-589: A single lithograph . Portraiture was an important component of Rodin's oeuvre, helping him to win acceptance and financial independence. His first sculpture was a bust of his father in 1860, and he produced at least 56 portraits between 1877 and his death in 1917. Early subjects included fellow sculptor Jules Dalou (1883) and companion Camille Claudel (1884). Later, with his reputation established, Rodin made busts of prominent contemporaries such as English politician George Wyndham (1905), Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1906), socialist (and former mistress of
1508-541: A small old castle (the Château de l'Islette in the Loire), but Rodin refused to relinquish his ties to Beuret, his loyal companion during the lean years, and mother of his son. During one absence, Rodin wrote to Beuret, "I think of how much you must have loved me to put up with my caprices...I remain, in all tenderness, your Rodin." Claudel and Rodin parted in 1898. Claudel suffered an alleged nervous breakdown several years later and
1624-449: A striving for perfection. He conceived The Gates with the surmoulage controversy still in mind: "...I had made the St. John to refute [the charges of casting from a model], but it only partially succeeded. To prove completely that I could model from life as well as other sculptors, I determined...to make the sculpture on the door of figures smaller than life." Laws of composition gave way to
1740-552: A technical achievement that was lost on most contemporary critics. Rodin chose this contradictory position to, in his words, "display simultaneously...views of an object which in fact can be seen only successively". Despite the title, St. John the Baptist Preaching did not have an obviously religious theme. The model, an Italian peasant who presented himself at Rodin's studio, possessed an idiosyncratic sense of movement that Rodin felt compelled to capture. Rodin thought of John
1856-588: A theme. He first titled the work The Vanquished , in which form the left hand held a spear, but he removed the spear because it obstructed the torso from certain angles. After two more intermediary titles, Rodin settled on The Age of Bronze , suggesting the Bronze Age , and in Rodin's words, "man arising from nature". Later, however, Rodin said that he had had in mind "just a simple piece of sculpture without reference to subject". Its mastery of form, light, and shadow made
1972-430: A time, when it will not seem outre to represent a great novelist as a huge comic mask crowning a bathrobe, but even at the present day this statue impresses one as slang." A modern critic, indeed, claims that Balzac is one of Rodin's masterpieces. The monument had its supporters in Rodin's day; a manifesto defending him was signed by Monet , Debussy , and future Premier Georges Clemenceau , among many others. In
2088-508: A traditional bust , but instead the head was "broken off" at the neck, the nose was flattened and crooked, and the back of the head was absent, having fallen off the clay model in an accident. The work emphasized texture and the emotional state of the subject; it illustrated the "unfinishedness" that would characterize many of Rodin's later sculptures. The Salon rejected the piece. In Brussels, Rodin created his first full-scale work, The Age of Bronze , having returned from Italy. Modeled after
2204-452: A united, heroic front; rather, each is isolated from his brothers, individually deliberating and struggling with his expected fate. Rodin soon proposed that the monument's high pedestal be eliminated, wanting to move the sculpture to ground level so that viewers could "penetrate to the heart of the subject". At ground level, the figures' positions lead the viewer around the work, and subtly suggest their common movement forward. The committee
2320-543: A young seamstress named Rose Beuret (born in June 1844), with whom he stayed for the rest of his life, with varying commitment. The couple had a son named Auguste-Eugène Beuret (1866–1934). That year, Rodin offered his first sculpture for exhibition and entered the studio of Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse , a successful mass producer of objets d'art . Rodin worked as Carrier-Belleuse' chief assistant until 1870, designing roof decorations and staircase and doorway embellishments. With
2436-513: Is bai una , "the place of the river" or bai ona "hill by the river"— Ibai means "river" in Basque and muinoa means "hill". "It has perhaps been lost from sight that many urban place names in France, from north to south, came from the element Bay- or Bayon- such as: Bayons , Bayonville , Bayonvillers and pose the unusual problem of whether they are Basque or Gascon" adds Pierre Hourmat. However,
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#17330939032832552-815: Is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border . It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department , in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region . Bayonne is located at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers in the northern part of the cultural region of the Basque Country . It is the seat of the Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque which roughly encompasses
2668-565: Is an important part of the Basque Bayonne-San Sebastián Eurocity and it plays the role of economic capital of the Adour basin. Modern industries—metallurgy and chemicals—have been established to take advantage of procurement opportunities and sea shipments through the harbour. Business services today represent the largest source of employment. Bayonne is also a cultural capital, a city with strong Basque and Gascon influences, and
2784-451: Is estimated to have reached about 3,500 people. The golden age of the city ended in the 15th century with the loss of trade with England and the silting of the port of Bayonne created by the movement of the course of the Adour to the north. At the beginning of the 16th century Labourd suffered the emergence of the plague . Its path can be tracked by reading the Registers . In July 1515,
2900-601: Is possible to see a pre-Celtic suffix -ona in the name of the Charente ( Karantona in 875) or the Charentonne ( Carentona in 1050). It could also be an augmentative Gascon from the original Latin radical Baia- with the suffix -ona in the sense of "vast expanse of water" or a name derived from the Basque bai meaning "river" and ona meaning "good", hence "good river". The proposal by Eugene Goyheneche repeated by Manex Goyhenetche and supported by Jean-Baptiste Orpustan
3016-439: Is some show of reason in the complaint that [Rodin's] conceptions are sometimes unsuited to his medium, and that in such cases they overstrain his vast technical powers". The 1897 plaster model was not cast in bronze until 1964. The Société des Gens des Lettres , a Parisian organization of writers, planned a monument to French novelist Honoré de Balzac immediately after his death in 1850. The society commissioned Rodin to create
3132-471: Is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes." Sculptural fragments to Rodin were autonomous works, and he considered them the essence of his artistic statement. His fragments – perhaps lacking arms, legs, or a head – took sculpture further from its traditional role of portraying likenesses, and into
3248-521: The prix de Rome , finally receiving only a second prize. However, a scholarship from his native Bayonne and support from the Personnaz family allowed him to spend three years in Rome (1858–60) independently where he and Antonin Personnaz became lifetime friends. During his stay in Rome, he also became friends with Edgar Degas , Gustave Moreau , Jean-Jacques Henner and the sculptor Henri Chapu . Bonnat won
3364-520: The BBC series Civilisation , art historian Kenneth Clark praised the monument as "the greatest piece of sculpture of the 19th Century, perhaps, indeed, the greatest since Michelangelo ." Rather than try to convince skeptics of the merit of the monument, Rodin repaid the Société his commission and moved the figure to his garden. After this experience, Rodin did not complete another public commission. Only in 1939
3480-467: The Boïates may possibly be La Teste-de-Buch but is certainly not Bayonne. The following table details the origins of Labord, Bayonne, and other names in the commune. Sources: Origins: In the absence of accurate objective data there is some credence to the probable existence of a fishing village on the site in a period prior to ancient times . Numerous traces of human occupation have been found in
3596-749: The Brussels Stock Exchange . Rodin planned to stay in Belgium a few months, but he spent the next six years outside of France. It was a pivotal time in his life. He had acquired skill and experience as a craftsman, but no one had yet seen his art, which sat in his workshop since he could not afford castings. His relationship with Carrier-Belleuse had deteriorated, but he found other employment in Brussels, displaying some works at salons, and his companion Rose soon joined him there. Having saved enough money to travel, Rodin visited Italy for two months in 1875, where he
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3712-656: The Gates' disordered and untamed depiction of Hell. The figures and groups in this, Rodin's meditation on the condition of man, are physically and morally isolated in their torment. The Gates of Hell comprised 186 figures in its final form. Many of Rodin's best-known sculptures started as designs of figures for this composition, such as The Thinker , The Three Shades , and The Kiss , and were only later presented as separate and independent works. Other well-known works derived from The Gates are Ugolino , Fallen Caryatid Carrying her Stone , Fugit Amor , She Who Was Once
3828-621: The Musée Bonnat . Most of the works in the museum are from the personal collections of Bonnat and Personnaz, amassed over a lifetime of travelling around Europe. It includes an exceptionally fine collection of Old Master drawings from Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to Ingres and Géricault . Bonnat died on 8 September 1922 at Monchy-Saint-Éloi , and was buried at the Cimitiére Saint-Etienne, Bayonne. Bonnat never married, and lived for much of his life with his mother and sister in
3944-481: The Place Vintimille (renamed Place Adolphe-Max in 1940). "We wonder why Velázquez 's infant has fake shoulders and why the head doesn't join properly...And how good it looks. While a head by Bonnat joins actual shoulders...And how bad it looks!" – Paul Gauguin (from Ramblings of a Wannabe Painter Publication 2017, David Zwirner Books) Bayonne Bayonne ( French: [bajɔn] )
4060-461: The Spanish expulsions dictated by the Alhambra Decree . This community brought skill in chocolate making, and Bayonne gained a reputation for chocolate. The course of the Adour was changed in 1578 by dredging under the direction of Louis de Foix , and the river returned to its former mouth. Bayonne flourished after regaining the maritime trade that it had lost for more than a hundred years. In
4176-766: The Spanish Inquisition raged in the Iberian Peninsula, Spanish and Portuguese Jews fled Spain and also later, Portugal, then settled in Southern France, including in Saint-Esprit (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) , a northern district of Bayonne located along the northern bank of the Adour river. They brought with them chocolate and the recipe for its preparation. In 1750, the Jewish population in Saint-Esprit (Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
4292-666: The 17th century, the city was fortified by Vauban , whose works were followed as models of defense for 100 years. In 1814, Bayonne and its surroundings were the scene of fighting between the Napoleonic troops and the Spanish-Anglo-Portuguese coalition led by the Duke of Wellington . It was the last time the city was under siege . In 1951, the Lacq gas field was discovered in the region; most of its extracted oil and sulphur are shipped from
4408-609: The Adour swamps. At its foot lies the famous "Bayonne Sea"—the junction of the two rivers—which may have been about 1,200 metres (3,900 feet) wide between Saint-Esprit and the Grand Bayonne and totally covered the current location of Bourg-Neuf (in the district of Petit Bayonne). To the south, the last bend of the Nive widens near the Saint-Léon hills. Despite this, the narrowing of the Adour valley allows easier crossing than anywhere else along
4524-583: The Baptist and carried that association into the title of the work. In 1880, Rodin submitted the sculpture to the Paris Salon. Critics were still mostly dismissive of his work, but the piece finished third in the Salon's sculpture category. Regardless of the immediate receptions of St. John and The Age of Bronze , Rodin had achieved a new degree of fame. Students sought him at his studio, praising his work and scorning
4640-407: The Baptist Preaching , was completed in 1878. Rodin sought to avoid another charge of surmoulage by making the statue larger than life: St. John stands almost 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m). While The Age of Bronze is statically posed, St. John gestures and seems to move toward the viewer. The effect of walking is achieved despite the figure having both feet firmly on the ground –
4756-676: The Basques, who had always been present, dominated the former Novempopulania province between the Garonne , the Ocean, and the Pyrénées. Novempopulania was renamed Vasconia and then Gascony after a Germanic deformation (resulting from the Visigoth and Frankish invasions). Basquisation of the plains region was too weak against the advance of romanization. From the mixture between the Basque and Latin language Gascon
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4872-487: The Battler besieged the city without success. Bayonne became an Angevin possession when Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry Plantagenet , the future king of England, in 1152. This alliance gave Bayonne many commercial privileges. The Bayonnaises became carriers of Bordeaux wines and other south-western products like resin, ham, and woad to England. Bayonne was then an important military base. In 1177, King Richard separated
4988-526: The Bayonne region from the Middle Paleolithic especially in the discoveries at Saint-Pierre-d'Irube , a neighbouring locality. On the other hand, the presence of a mound about 14 metres (46 feet) high has been detected in the current Cathedral Quarter overlooking the Nive, which formed a natural protection and a usable port on the left bank of the Nive. At the time, the mound was surrounded north and west by
5104-469: The Biblical Adam , the mythological Prometheus , and Rodin himself have been ascribed to him. Other observers de-emphasize the apparent intellectual theme of The Thinker , stressing the figure's rough physicality and the emotional tension emanating from it. The town of Calais had contemplated a historical monument for decades when Rodin learned of the project. He pursued the commission, interested in
5220-710: The Catholic order of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament as a laybrother . Saint Peter Julian Eymard , founder and head of the congregation, recognized Rodin's talent and sensed his lack of suitability for the order, so he encouraged Rodin to continue with his sculpture. Rodin returned to work as a decorator while taking classes with animal sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye . The teacher's attention to detail and his finely rendered musculature of animals in motion significantly influenced Rodin. In 1864, Rodin began to live with
5336-520: The Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Julius Kaplan characterised Bonnat as "a liberal teacher who stressed simplicity in art above high academic finish, as well as overall effect rather than detail." Bonnat's emphasis on overall effect on the one hand, and rigorous drawing on the other, put him in a middle position with respect to the Impressionists and academic painters like his friend Jean-Léon Gérôme . In 1917, Bonnat
5452-502: The Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife , The Falling Man , and The Prodigal Son . The Thinker (originally titled The Poet , after Dante) was to become one of the best-known sculptures in the world. The original was a 27.5-inch (700 mm) high bronze piece created between 1879 and 1889, designed for the Gates ' lintel , from which the figure would gaze down upon Hell. While The Thinker most obviously characterizes Dante, aspects of
5568-567: The Latin form Lapurdum after a period during which the two names could in turn designate a Viscounty or Bishopric. Labourd and Bayonne were synonymous and used interchangeably until the 12th century before being differentiated: Labord for the province and Bayonne for the city. The attribution of Bayonne as Civitas Boatium , a place mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary and by Paul Raymond in his 1863 dictionary, has been abandoned. The city of
5684-699: The Lion Heart of England took control of it, separating it from the Viscount of Labourd. In 1451, the city was taken by the Crown of France after the Hundred Years' War . The loss of trade with the English was followed by the river gradually filling with silt and becoming impassable to ships. As the city developed to the north, its position was weakened compared to earlier times. The district of Saint-Esprit developed initially from settlement by Sephardic Jewish refugees fleeing
5800-518: The Netherlands, the Antilles , the cod fishery off the shores of Newfoundland , and construction sites maintained a high level of activity in the port. In 1792, the district of Saint-Esprit (that revolutionaries renamed Port-de-la-Montagne ) located on the right bank of the Adour, was separated from the city and renamed Jean-Jacques Rousseau . It was reunited with Bayonne on 1 June 1857. For 65 years,
5916-405: The Paris Salon, and criticism likened it to "a statue of a sleepwalker" and called it "an astonishingly accurate copy of a low type". Others rallied to defend the piece and Rodin's integrity. The government minister Turquet admired the piece, and The Age of Bronze was purchased by the state for 2,200 francs – what it had cost Rodin to have it cast in bronze. A second male nude, St. John
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#17330939032836032-671: The Place of Two Galley Slaves (at the church of Saint-Nicholas des Champs in Paris), and the large Martyrdom of St Denis for the Pantheon in Paris. However, he received few commissions for religious and historical paintings, and most of his output consists of portraits. He also produced genre paintings of Italian peasants, and a small number of Orientalist scenes. The writers Émile Zola and Théophile Gautier were among Bonnat's supporters. Gautier hailed him as "the antithesis of Bouguereau ," because of
6148-458: The Prince of Wales who became King Edward VII) Countess of Warwick (1908), Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (1909), former Argentine president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and French statesman Georges Clemenceau (1911). His undated drawing Study of a Woman Nude, Standing, Arms Raised, Hands Crossed Above Head is one of the works seized in 2012 from the collection of Cornelius Gurlitt . Rodin
6264-549: The Pyrenees, and pine from Landes ) being overabundant. There was also maritime activity in providing crews for whaling , commercial marine or, and it was often so at a time when it was easy to turn any merchant ship into a warship, the English Royal Navy . Jean de Dunois – a former companion at arms of Joan of Arc —captured the city on 20 August 1451 and annexed it to the Crown "without making too many victims", but at
6380-607: The Romans surrounded the city with a wall to keep out the Tarbelli , Aquitani , or the proto-Basque who then occupied a territory that extended south of modern-day Landes , to the modern French Basque country, the Chalosse , the valleys of the Adour , the mountain streams of Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques , and to the Gave d'Oloron . The archaeological discoveries of October and November 1995 provided
6496-504: The Viscounty of Labourd whose capital then became Ustaritz . Like many cities at the time, in 1215 Bayonne obtained the award of a municipal charter and was emancipated from feudal powers. The official publication, in 1273, of a Coutume unique to the city, remained in force for five centuries until the separation of Bayonne from Labourd. Bayonnaise industry at that time was dominated by shipbuilding: wood ( oak , beech , chestnut from
6612-412: The arrival of the Franco-Prussian War , Rodin was called to serve in the French National Guard, but his service was brief due to his near-sightedness. Decorators' work had dwindled because of the war, yet Rodin needed to support his family, as poverty was a continual difficulty for him until about the age of 30. Carrier-Belleuse soon asked him to join him in Belgium, where they worked on ornamentation for
6728-519: The autonomous commune was part of the department of Landes . In 1808, at the Château of Marracq , the act of abdication of the Spanish king Charles IV in favour of Napoleon was signed under the "friendly pressure" of the Emperor. In the process, the Bayonne Statute was initialed as the first Spanish constitution. Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin ( / r oʊ ˈ d æ n / ; French: [fʁɑ̃swa oɡyst ʁəne ʁɔdɛ̃] ; 12 November 1840 – 17 November 1917)
6844-454: The charges of surmoulage . The artistic community knew his name. A commission to create a portal for Paris' planned Museum of Decorative Arts was awarded to Rodin in 1880. Although the museum was never built, Rodin worked throughout his life on The Gates of Hell , a monumental sculptural group depicting scenes from Dante's Inferno in high relief. Often lacking a clear conception of his major works, Rodin compensated with hard work and
6960-417: The city leaders did not appear to be unknown. In fact, they never hesitated to use violence and criminal sanctions for keeping order in the name of the "public good". Two brothers, Saubat and Johannes Sorhaindo who were both lieutenants of the mayor of Bayonne in the second half of the 16th century, perfectly embody this period. They often wavered between Catholicism and Protestantism but always wanted to ensure
7076-435: The city of Bayonne was "prohibited to welcome people from plague-stricken places" and on 21 October, "we inhibit and prohibit all peasants and residents of this city [...] to go Parish Bidart [...] because of the contagion of the plague". On 11 April 1518, the plague raged in Saint-Jean-de-Luz and the city of Bayonne "inhibited and prohibited for all peasants and city inhabitants and other foreigners to maintain relationships at
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#17330939032837192-436: The college Principal of Bayonne was a man of 26 years old with a future: Cornelius Jansen known as Jansénius , the future Bishop of Ypres . Bayonne became the birthplace of Jansenism , an austere science which strongly disrupted the monarchy of Louis XIV . During the sporadic conflicts that troubled the French countryside from the mid 17th century, Bayonne peasants wewhalesre short of powder and projectiles. They attached
7308-470: The commission, the Calais committee was not impressed with Rodin's progress. Rodin indicated his willingness to end the project rather than change his design to meet the committee's conservative expectations, but Calais said to continue. In 1889, The Burghers of Calais was first displayed to general acclaim. It is a bronze sculpture weighing two short tons (1,814 kg), and its figures are 6.6 ft (2.0 m) tall. The six men portrayed do not display
7424-412: The commune of Bayonne proper. It is also a part of Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián . The site on the left bank of the Nive and the Adour was probably occupied before ancient times ; a fortified enclosure was attested in the 1st century at the time when the Tarbelli occupied the territory. Archaeological studies have confirmed the presence of a Roman castrum , a stronghold in Novempopulania at
7540-425: The cost of a war indemnity of 40,000 gold Écus payable in a year, —thanks to the opportunism of the bishop who claimed to have seen "a large white cross surmounted by a crown which turns into a fleur-de-lis in the sky" to dissuade Bayonne from fighting against the royal troops. The city continued to be fortified by the kings of France to protect it from danger from the Spanish border. In 1454, Charles VII created
7656-407: The de facto seat of a separate Seneschal under the authority of a "lieutenant-general of the Seneschal". In May 1462, King Louis XI authorized the holding of two annual fairs by letters patent after signing the Treaty of Bayonne after which it was confirmed by the coutoumes of the inhabitants in July 1472 following the death of Charles de Valois, Duke de Berry , the king's brother. At the time
7772-418: The distance with deeply gouged features. Rodin's intent had been to show Balzac at the moment of conceiving a work – to express courage, labor, and struggle. When Monument to Balzac was exhibited in 1898, the negative reaction was not surprising. The Société rejected the work, and the press ran parodies . Criticizing the work, Morey (1918) reflected, "there may come a time, and doubtless will come
7888-451: The element -onne follows an Indo-European theme: *ud-r/n (Greek húdōr giving hydro, Gothic watt meaning "water") hence *udnā meaning "water" giving unna then onno in the glossary of Vienne . Unna therefore would refer to the Adour. This toponymic type evoking a river traversing a locality is common. The appellative unna seems to be found in the name of the Garonne ( Garunna 1st century; Garonna 4th century). However, it
8004-475: The end of the 4th century, before the city was populated by the Vascones . In 1023, Bayonne was the capital of Labourd . In the 12th century, it extended to the confluence and beyond of the Nive River. At that time, the first bridge was built over the Adour. The city came under the domination of the English in 1152 through the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine : it became militarily and, above all, commercially important, thanks to maritime trade. In 1177, Richard
8120-400: The entire length of the estuary. In conclusion, the strategic importance of this height was so obvious it must be presumed that it has always been inhabited. The oldest documented human occupation site is located on a hill overlooking the Nive and its confluence with the Adour. In the 1st century AD, during the Roman occupation, Bayonne already seems to have been of some importance since
8236-403: The human body with naturalism, and his sculptures celebrate individual character and physicality. Although Rodin was sensitive to the controversy surrounding his work, he refused to change his style, and his continued output brought increasing favor from the government and the artistic community. From the unexpected naturalism of Rodin's first major figure – inspired by his 1875 trip to Italy – to
8352-532: The influence of Velázquez , Jusepe de Ribera and other Spanish masters, as well as Titian and Van Dyke , whose works he studied in the Prado, which placed him at the forefront of painting in France in the 1850s, opposing neoclassicism and academicism. Following the period in Spain, Bonnat worked the studios of the history painters Paul Delaroche and Leon Cogniet (1854) in Paris. Despite repeated attempts, he failed to win
8468-469: The influence of seventeenth-century painters and Goya, towards a more modern freedom of execution, scratching the brush and using the spatula, as well as a more colorful color gamut, as can be seen in his Self-portrait of the Prado Museum. In a gesture of gratitude for the help he had been provided in his youth and with the assistance of Antonin Personnaz, Bonnat built a museum in his native city of Bayonne,
8584-543: The judges' Neoclassical tastes, while Rodin had been schooled in light, 18th-century sculpture. He left the Petite École in 1857 and earned a living as a craftsman and ornamenter for most of the next two decades, producing decorative objects and architectural embellishments. Rodin's sister Maria, two years his senior, died of peritonitis in a convent in 1862, and Rodin was anguished with guilt because he had introduced her to an unfaithful suitor. He turned away from art and joined
8700-414: The king's camp, carrying keys to the town's gates and citadel. Rodin began the project in 1884, inspired by the chronicles of the siege by Jean Froissart . Though the town envisioned an allegorical , heroic piece centered on Eustache de Saint-Pierre, the eldest of the six men, Rodin conceived the sculpture as a study in the varied and complex emotions under which all six men were laboring. One year into
8816-403: The last year of both their lives. His sculptures suffered a decline in popularity after his death in 1917, but within a few decades his legacy solidified. Rodin remains one of the few sculptors widely known outside the visual arts community. Rodin was born in 1840 into a working-class family in Paris, the second child of Marie Cheffer and Jean-Baptiste Rodin, who was a police department clerk. He
8932-519: The locality at the crossroads of a river system oriented from east to west and the road network connecting Europe to the Iberian Peninsula from north to south, predisposed the site to the double role of fortress and port. The city, after being Roman, alternated between the Vascones and the English for three centuries from the 12th to the 15th century. The Romans left the city in the 4th century and
9048-524: The location and Parish of Saint-Jean-de-Luz where people have died of the plague". On 11 November 1518, the plague was present in Bayonne to the point that in 1519 the city council moved to the district of Brindos (Berindos at the time) in Anglet . In 1523, Marshal Odet of Foix, Viscount of Lautrec resisted the Spaniards under Philibert of Chalon in the service of Charles V and lifted the siege of Bayonne. It
9164-417: The long hunting knives in the barrels of their muskets and that way they fashioned makeshift spears later called bayonets . In that same century, Vauban was charged by Louis XIV to fortify the city. He added a citadel built on a hill overlooking the district of San Espirit Cap deou do Punt . Activity in Bayonne peaked in the 18th century. The Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1726. Trade with Spain,
9280-510: The loquaciousness and temperament for which he is better known. French statesman Leon Gambetta expressed a desire to meet Rodin, and the sculptor impressed him when they met at a salon. Gambetta spoke of Rodin in turn to several government ministers, likely including Edmund Turquet , the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Fine Arts, whom Rodin eventually met. Rodin's relationship with Turquet
9396-401: The medieval motif and patriotic theme. The mayor of Calais was tempted to hire Rodin on the spot upon visiting his studio, and soon the memorial was approved, with Rodin as its architect. It would commemorate the six townspeople of Calais who offered their lives to save their fellow citizens. During the Hundred Years' War , the army of King Edward III besieged Calais, and Edward ordered that
9512-429: The memorial in 1891, and Rodin spent years developing the concept for his sculpture. Challenged in finding an appropriate representation of Balzac given the author's rotund physique, Rodin produced many studies: portraits, full-length figures in the nude, wearing a frock coat , or in a robe – a replica of which Rodin had requested. The realized sculpture displays Balzac cloaked in the drapery, looking forcefully into
9628-636: The mission to build the Church of Bayonne The construction was under the authority of Raymond III of Martres, Bishop of Bayonne from 1122 to 1125, combined with Viscount Bertrand for the Romanesque cathedral, the rear of which can still be seen today, and the first wooden bridge across the Adour extending the Mayou bridge over the Nive, which inaugurated the heyday of Bayonne. From 1120, new districts were created under population pressure. The development of areas between
9744-520: The most ancient form of Bayonne: Baiona , clearly indicates a feminine or a theme of -a whereas this is not the case for Béon or Bayon. In addition, the Bayon- in Bayonville or Bayonvillers in northern France is clearly the personal Germanic name Baio . The names of the Basque province of Labourd and the locality of Bayonne have been attested from an early period with the place name Bayonne appearing in
9860-498: The name of the province of Labourd . According to Eugene Goyheneche, the name Baiona designated the city, the port, and the cathedral while that of Lapurdum was only a territorial designation. This Roman settlement was strategic as it allowed the monitoring of the trans-Pyrenean roads and of local people rebellious to the Roman power. The construction covered 6 to 10 hectares according to several authors. The geographical location of
9976-512: The next ten years. As their relationship came to a close, despite his genuine feeling for her, Rodin eventually resorted to the use of concièrges and secretaries to keep her at a distance. In 1864, Rodin submitted his first sculpture for exhibition, The Man with the Broken Nose , to the Paris Salon . The subject was an elderly neighborhood street porter. The unconventional bronze piece was not
10092-499: The old Roman city of Grand Bayonne and the Nive also developed during this period, then between the Nive and the Adour at the place that became Petit Bayonne. A Dominican Order Convent was located there in 1225 then that of the Cordeliers in 1247. Construction of and modifications to the defences of the city also developed to protect the new districts. In 1130, the King of Aragon Alfonso
10208-550: The port of Bayonne. During the second half of the 20th century, many housing estates were built, forming new districts on the periphery. The city developed to form a conurbation with Anglet and Biarritz : this agglomeration became the heart of a vast Basque-Landes urban area. In 2014, Bayonne was a commune with more than 45,000 inhabitants, the heart of the urban area of Bayonne and of the Agglomeration Côte Basque-Adour . This includes Anglet and Biarritz . It
10324-1395: The private atelier he ran before becoming professor at the École. He supported Auguste Rodin 's candidacy for the Institut, and defended Gustave Courbet 's submissions to the salon. As a teacher he encouraged freedom of expression and execution. He recommended traveling to Madrid to visit the Prado Museum, and introduced in Paris the tendency paint in the Spanish way, which influenced the evolution of French painting. Some of Bonnat's more notable students include: John Singer Sargent , Stanhope Forbes , Gustave Caillebotte , Prince Eugen, Duke of Närke , Gustaf Cederström , Laurits Tuxen , P. S. Krøyer , Suzor-Coté , Robert Harris , Alfred Philippe Roll , Georges Braque , Thomas Eakins , Raoul Dufy , Jean Béraud , Franklin Brownell , Marius Vasselon , Hubert-Denis Etcheverry , Fred Barnard , Louis Béroud , Paul de la Boulaye , Aloysius O'Kelly , Erik Werenskiold , Graciano Mendilaharzu , Edvard Munch , Alphonse Osbert , Henry Siddons Mowbray , Francis Petrus Paulus , Charles Sprague Pearce , Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec , Manuel Cusí y Ferret , Hyakutake Kaneyuki , Nils Forsberg , Walter Tyndale , Émile-Louis Foubert , and Harry Watrous . In his last years his painting evolved, from
10440-401: The second half of the 1st century as well as coins from the first half of the 3rd century. A very high probability of human presence, not solely military, seems to provisionally confirm the occupation of the site at least around the third century. A Roman castrum dating to the end of the 4th century has been proven as a fortified place of Novempopulania . Named Lapurdum , the name became
10556-686: The stark naturalism and lack of surface finish that characterize Bonnat's work. Bonnat was an academic painter . He was a member of the Institute, one of the only 14 painters who had administrative power over the Academy des Beaux Arts and thereby the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He had friends and connections among the independent artists of his time as well, such as Edgar Degas , whom he met during his stay in Rome and who painted two portraits of Bonnat, and Édouard Manet , who shared his predilection for Spanish painting. He taught together with Pierre Puvis de Chavannes in
10672-451: The style of Carpeaux . In competitions for commissions he submitted models of Denis Diderot , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , and Lazare Carnot , all to no avail. On his own time, he worked on studies leading to the creation of his next important work, St. John the Baptist Preaching . In 1880, Carrier-Belleuse – then art director of the Sèvres national porcelain factory – offered Rodin
10788-404: The town's population be killed en masse . He agreed to spare them if six of the principal citizens would come to him prepared to die, bareheaded and barefooted and with ropes around their necks. When they came, he ordered that they be executed, but pardoned them when his queen, Philippa of Hainault , begged him to spare their lives. The Burghers of Calais depicts the men as they are leaving for
10904-626: The unconventional memorials whose commissions he later sought, his reputation grew, and Rodin became the preeminent French sculptor of his time. By 1900, he was a world-renowned artist. Wealthy private clients sought Rodin's work after his World's Fair exhibit, and he kept company with a variety of high-profile intellectuals and artists. His student, Camille Claudel , became his associate, lover, and creative rival. Rodin's other students included Antoine Bourdelle , Constantin Brâncuși , and Charles Despiau . He married his lifelong companion, Rose Beuret , in
11020-458: The unity and prestige of the city. In the 16th century, the king's engineers, under the direction of Louis de Foix, were dispatched to rearrange the course of the Adour by creating an estuary to maintain the river bed. The river discharged in the right place to the Ocean on 28 October 1578. The port of Bayonne then attained a greater level of activity. Fishing for cod and whale ensured the wealth of fishermen and shipowners. From 1611 to 1612,
11136-526: The western half of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, including the coastal city of Biarritz . This area also constitutes the southern part of Gascony , where the Aquitaine Basin joins the beginning of the Pre-Pyrenees . Together with nearby Anglet , Biarritz , Saint-Jean-de-Luz , as well as several smaller communes, Bayonne forms an urban area with 273,137 inhabitants at the 2018 census; 51,411 residents lived in
11252-442: The work look so naturalistic that Rodin was accused of surmoulage – having taken a cast from a living model. Rodin vigorously denied the charges, writing to newspapers and having photographs taken of the model to prove how the sculpture differed. He demanded an inquiry and was eventually exonerated by a committee of sculptors. Leaving aside the false charges, the piece polarized critics. It had barely won acceptance for display at
11368-601: Was Monument to Balzac cast in bronze and placed on the Boulevard du Montparnasse at the intersection with Boulevard Raspail . The popularity of Rodin's most famous sculptures tends to obscure his total creative output. A prolific artist, he created thousands of busts, figures, and sculptural fragments over more than five decades. He painted in oils (especially in his thirties) and in watercolors . The Musée Rodin holds 7,000 of his drawings and prints, in chalk and charcoal , and thirteen vigorous drypoints . He also produced
11484-692: Was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, and deeply pocketed surface in clay . He is known for such sculptures as The Thinker , Monument to Balzac , The Kiss , The Burghers of Calais , and The Gates of Hell . Many of Rodin's most notable sculptures were criticized, as they clashed with predominant figurative sculpture traditions in which works were decorative, formulaic, or highly thematic . Rodin's most original work departed from traditional themes of mythology and allegory . He modeled
11600-434: Was a life-size, well-proportioned nude figure, posed unconventionally with his right hand atop his head, and his left arm held out at his side, forearm parallel to the body. In 1877, the work debuted in Brussels and then was shown at the Paris Salon. The statue's apparent lack of a theme was troubling to critics – commemorating neither mythology nor a noble historical event – and it is not clear whether Rodin intended
11716-522: Was a naturalist, less concerned with monumental expression than with character and emotion. Departing with centuries of tradition, he turned away from the idealism of the Greeks, and the decorative beauty of the Baroque and neo-Baroque movements. His sculpture emphasized the individual and the concreteness of flesh, and suggested emotion through detailed, textured surfaces, and the interplay of light and shadow. To
11832-564: Was also in the ever-helpful Thérèse's care. Rodin had essentially abandoned his son for six years, and would have a very limited relationship with him throughout his life. Father and son joined the couple in their flat, with Rose as caretaker. Charges of fakery surrounding The Age of Bronze continued. Rodin increasingly sought soothing female companionship in Paris, and Rose stayed in the background. Rodin earned his living collaborating with more established sculptors on public commissions, primarily memorials and neo-baroque architectural pieces in
11948-521: Was among Rodin's favorite poets. Rodin enjoyed music, especially the opera composer Gluck , and wrote a book about French cathedrals . He owned a work by the as-yet-unrecognized Van Gogh and admired the forgotten El Greco . Instead of copying traditional academic postures, Rodin preferred his models to move naturally around his studio (despite their nakedness). The sculptor often made quick sketches in clay that were later fine-tuned, cast in plaster, and cast in bronze or carved from marble. Rodin's focus
12064-612: Was at Château-Vieux that the ransom demand for the release of Francis I, taken prisoner after his defeat at the Battle of Pavia , was gathered. The meeting in 1565 between Catherine de Medici and the envoy of Philip II : the Duke of Alba, is known as the Interview of Bayonne . At the time that Catholics and Protestants tore each other apart in parts of the kingdom of France, Bayonne seemed relatively untouched by these troubles. An iron fist from
12180-475: Was at Petite École that he met Jules Dalou and Alphonse Legros . In 1857, Rodin submitted a clay model of a companion to the École des Beaux-Arts in an attempt to win entrance; he did not succeed, and two further applications were also denied. Entrance requirements were not particularly high at the Grande École , so the rejections were considerable setbacks. Rodin's inability to gain entrance may have been due to
12296-511: Was chosen in 1891. His execution of both sculptures clashed with traditional tastes and met with varying degrees of disapproval from the organizations that sponsored the commissions. Still, Rodin was gaining support from diverse sources that propelled him toward fame. In 1889, the Paris Salon invited Rodin to be a judge on its artistic jury. Though Rodin's career was on the rise, Claudel and Beuret were becoming increasingly impatient with Rodin's "double life". Claudel and Rodin shared an atelier at
12412-464: Was confined to an institution for 30 years by her family, until her death in 1943, despite numerous attempts by doctors to explain to her mother and brother that she was sane. In 1904, Rodin was introduced to the Welsh artist, Gwen John , who modelled for him and became his lover after being introduced by Hilda Flodin . John had a fervent attachment to Rodin and would write to him thousands of times over
12528-510: Was created. Documentation on Bayonne for the period from the High Middle Ages are virtually nonexistent, with the exception of two Norman intrusions: one questionable in 844 and a second attested in 892. When Labourd was created in 1023, Bayonne was the capital and the Viscount resided there. The history of Bayonne proper started in 1056 when Raymond II the Younger, Bishop of Bazas, had
12644-408: Was drawn to the work of Donatello and Michelangelo . Their work had a profound effect on his artistic direction. Rodin said, "It is Michelangelo who has freed me from academic sculpture." Returning to Belgium, he began work on The Age of Bronze , a life-size male figure whose naturalism brought Rodin attention but led to accusations of sculptural cheating – its naturalism and scale
12760-584: Was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Corresponding member. Bonnat's vivid portraits of contemporary celebrities are his most characteristic works, but his most important works are arguably his powerful religious paintings, such as his Christ on the Cross (now in the collection of the Musée du Petit Palais in Paris, but not currently on display), Job (in the Musée Bonnat ), St Vincent Taking
12876-479: Was incensed by the untraditional proposal, but Rodin would not yield. In 1895, Calais succeeded in having Burghers displayed in their preferred form: the work was placed in front of a public garden on a high platform, surrounded by a cast-iron railing. Rodin had wanted it located near the town hall, where it would engage the public. Only after damage during the First World War, subsequent storage, and Rodin's death
12992-457: Was largely self-educated, and began to draw at age 10. Between ages 14 and 17, he attended the Petite École , a school specializing in art and mathematics where he studied drawing and painting. His drawing teacher Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran believed in first developing the personality of his students so that they observed with their own eyes and drew from their recollections, and Rodin expressed appreciation for his teacher much later in life. It
13108-433: Was on the handling of clay. George Bernard Shaw sat for a portrait and gave an idea of Rodin's technique: "While he worked, he achieved a number of miracles. At the end of the first fifteen minutes, after having given a simple idea of the human form to the block of clay, he produced by the action of his thumb a bust so living that I would have taken it away with me to relieve the sculptor of any further work." He described
13224-417: Was rewarding. Through Turquet, he won the 1880 commission to create a portal for a planned museum of decorative arts. Rodin dedicated much of the next four decades to his elaborate Gates of Hell , an unfinished portal for a museum that was never built. Many of the portal's figures became sculptures in themselves, including Rodin's most famous, The Thinker and The Kiss . With the museum commission came
13340-589: Was such that critics alleged he had cast the work from a living model. Much of Rodin's later work was explicitly larger or smaller than life, in part to demonstrate the folly of such accusations. Rose Beuret and Rodin returned to Paris in 1877, moving into a small flat on the Left Bank . Misfortune surrounded Rodin: his mother, who had wanted to see her son marry, was dead, and his father was blind and senile, cared for by Rodin's sister-in-law, Aunt Thérèse. Rodin's eleven-year-old son Auguste, possibly developmentally delayed,
13456-477: Was the sculpture displayed as he had intended. It is one of Rodin's best-known and most acclaimed works. Commissioned to create a monument to French writer Victor Hugo in 1889, Rodin dealt extensively with the subject of artist and muse . Like many of Rodin's public commissions, Monument to Victor Hugo was met with resistance because it did not fit conventional expectations. Commenting on Rodin's monument to Victor Hugo, The Times in 1909 expressed that "there
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