In the fourteenth century during the Hundred Years’ War, England’s King Edward III laid siege to the French town of Calais. After enduring eleven months of hardship, the nearly starved population finally reached an agreement with the king: he would spare the town on the condition that six of Calais’ leading citizens would deliver themselves to him as hostages. The six patriotic volunteers were required to walk to the English camp in sackcloth with rope tied around their necks, bearing the keys to the city. Although later spared through intercession of the queen, the men expected to be executed. Five centuries later, in the wake of the disastrous Franco-Prussian war, the French government encouraged municipalities to erect monuments to France’s historical patriots in order to rekindle national pride. In 1884, the town council of Calais commissioned Rodin to create a monument honoring its six most famous citizens. Rodin’s unusual monument depicted the group of six burghers walking reluctantly away from the city, stoically accepting their unjust fate. The BMA’s sculpture is a reduced version of the youngest of the six burghers, Jean de Fiennes. The figure perfectly embodies the psychological tension as he turns back in a gesture of disbelief even though his legs already propel him towards his uncertain destiny.