Curatorial Note

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)Jean d’Aire, from The Burghers of CalaisBronzeHeight: 17.75 in.
Few works in modern sculpture carry the psychological gravity of Rodin’s Burghers of Calais. Conceived not as a monument to triumph, but to sacrifice, the figures are stripped of heroism and instead burdened with the full emotional weight of their decision. Jean d’Aire stands among them as one of the most resolved—his body advancing, his mind elsewhere.
Rodin decided to create just five of the burghers of Calais as individual sculptures for the collector’s market. The archives in the Musée Rodin show correspondence between Rodin and Henri le Bossé, who made reductions and enlargements for Rodin, which resulted in reductions of Jean d’Aire and Pierre de Wiessant in 1895. Early casts in bronze were made by Perzinka and Francois Rudier before Rodin settled with Alexis Rudier, who had the sole rights to cast the work from 1902 to 1952. The present work is a typical fine sand-cast bronze from Rudier with rich nuanced patina and fine attention to detail. It was cast in May 1945 and was purchased by the London gallery, Roland, Browse and Delbanco, who sold it to Habib Sabet in the 1960s. An amazing entrepreneur, Habib Sabet started the first taxi service in Tehran with 20 dollars he earned at his bicycle repair shop. He went on to own distributorships for Dodge and Pepsi Cola and started Iran’s first television station. A lifelong admirer of French art, he was a great collector and moved to Paris in 1974. He died in 1990, leaving his collection to his son Hormoz Sabet in Manhattan. The Braselton Art Gallery purchased the sculpture from the estate of Hormoz Sabet.
Provenance: Musée Rodin → Roland, Browse & Delbanco → Habib Sabet → Hormoz Sabet- Braselton Art Gallery. Braselton Art Gallery is actively working with the Musée Rodin to confirm whether this specific casting of Jean d’Aire corresponds to the documented Sabet d”Aire example recorded in established Rodin scholarship. This ongoing review seeks to recover Sabet family paperwork from the Musée Rodin and definitively place the sculpture within the known provenance lineage.
This reduction of Jean d’Aire reflects Rodin’s late 19th-century effort to bring individual figures from the monument into the collector’s sphere. The model, reduced in 1895, became one of the most sought-after of the series, valued not for scale, but for its concentration of emotion and form.
What distinguishes this example is not only its authorship, but its presence as a cast. The drapery is executed with exceptional sharpness and tension - deep vertical channels and crisp ridge lines that retain the sculptural energy of the original modeling - an indicator of a well-preserved mold and careful chasing. The hands, particularly at the key, exhibit refined articulation and anatomical clarity. The transitions between planes—fingers, knuckles, and the tension of grip—remain precise rather than rounded or degraded, reinforcing the integrity of the casting. Equally important is the interior construction of the bronze. The underside reveals a thin, intelligently structured support system consistent with traditional lost-wax casting practices. This lighter, more deliberate internal architecture is often diminished or entirely lost in later or derivative castings, where mass and thickness replace refinement.
The sculpture bears the three critical markers associated with accepted Rudier casts of this model:
Incised “A. Rodin” signature at the base near the foot
“Alexis Rudier, Fondeur Paris” foundry mark
Raised “A. Rodin” signature within the interior of the base
Jean d’Aire endures because it is not a sculpture of victory, but of internal reckoning. The forward step, the downward weight of the robe, the distant gaze—each element speaks to the moment between decision and consequence.
This example captures that moment with uncommon clarity.