Glasgow Museum Reports £3m Auguste Rodin Sculpture Missing

A statue by the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin, part of his well-known group “Les Bourgeois de Calais,” is currently missing in Glasgow’s art collections, according to museum officials.

The plaster sculpture, purchased by Glasgow Museums from the artist in 1901, was displayed in Kelvingrove Park from June 25 to September 30, 1949, as reported by Glasgow Life, the organisation responsible for many of the city’s cultural venues. However, it appears to have gone missing since then.

The Comité Rodin, which maintains a catalog of the artist’s works worldwide, identifies the 2-meter sculpture as representing Jean d’Aire, one of the figures in the Calais group.

Jérôme le Blay, the director of the Comité Rodin, acknowledged that the disappearance is regrettable but should be considered in the context of the 1940s when plaster works were not highly regarded. He estimated the work’s current value to be around £3 million (€3.5 million).

The bronze statues of the six “Bourgeois de Calais,” commemorating the sacrifice of local leaders during a siege of the northern French town by English armies during the Hundred Years’ War, were commissioned by the municipality and unveiled in 1895.

Various bronze and plaster versions of the statue can be found in collections worldwide.