05 December 2018

The Children of Calais, a sculpture in Saffron Walden, by Ian Volter

"The Children of Calais portrays six British children as refugees caught in the present migration crisis.  Their poses echo Rodin's famous The Burghers of Calais, completed in 1895.

Rodin's solemn composition commemorates an event during 'The Siege of Calais' in 1347.  The English King offered to spare the lives of the Calais citizens on condition that six of its Burghers would surrender themselves.  Although they expected to be executed, the Burghers' lives were spared by the intervention of the English Queen.

The Children of Calais evokes a parallel narrative: the desperate situation of the young refugees, and the potential of humanity to yet hold sway".
Source:-  Information board on site


2 Comments:

Blogger Sage said...

Always so interesting to go back and visit a place where we used to live. My sister and I did that a few years ago, visiting the house we and our parents lived in and the college we went to. It does look like a pretty village.

25 December 2018 at 01:27:00 GMT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This shows how little I know of one of the greatest sculptors of the world. I have never heard of his statue before and certainly not of this modern version inspired from his masterpiece. And it also shows that history repeats itself..
xxx
Arne

29 December 2018 at 17:50:00 GMT

 

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