The Call to Arms 1879, date of cast unknown Bronze 44 ½  x  22 ½  x  15 in. Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation In 1879 Rodin entered a competition to design a monument intended to honor the brave citizens that participated in the defense of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Rodin's submission portrayed a winged female figure rising above a wounded warrior who appears to be sinking to the ground. The impassioned female figure emerges as a symbol of liberty set against the pathos of the dying warrior. The movement, expression, and symbolism are clearly powerful; however, the jury was looking for a more realistic portrayal that captured the sentiment of the event and did not show the warrior in such a non-heroic light. Although Rodin's innovative design was not chosen for the monument, The Call to Arms was eventually installed at Verdun in 1920 to commemorate the French soldiers of World War I. Rodin also returned to the winged female figure in another work, entitled The Spirit Of War, which portrays the figure without the collapsing warrior.