The Call to Arms was Rodin’s entry to a contest for a public
monument commemorating the defense of Paris during the
Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). The composition shows
a range of artistic influences, from the slumped male body,
reminiscent of Michelangelo’s dead Christs, to the anguished
face of the angel, a reference to François Rude’s sculptural
relief on the Arc de Triomphe. Rodin’s unorthodox approach
to a public monument led to his elimination in the first
round. As he later wrote, “I . . . still often ask myself why
the hell I ever entered. . . . My group must have appeared too
violent, too intense.”