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Auguste Rodin

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Dru
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« on: March 12, 2007, 11:38:22 pm »

The Kiss  The Kiss
1888 - 1889
marble
181,5 x 112,3 x 117 cm
S.1002
Photo : E. & P. Hesmerg

While visiting the second circle in Hell, Virgil and Dante saw, among those who had committed sins of the flesh, Paolo and Francesca, two personages who had really lived in the Middle Ages in Italy. Around 1275, Francesca, the daughter of Guido da Polenta, married Gianciotto Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, who entrusted her in the care of his brother, the handsome young Paolo. Paolo and Francesca fell in love with each other while reading romances of courtly love. As soon as they exchanged their first kiss, Gianciotto caught them by surprise and stabbed them. "Love has led us to a unique death" Dante makes their shades say. This forbidden love and its consequent eternal damnation, was a favourite theme among 19th century artists, from Ingres to Delacroix, and from Ary Scheffer to Cabanel and Henri Martin.
Rodin portrayed the famous lovers at the very instant they became aware of their feelings. He placed them in the centre of the left leaf of The Gates of Hell. This group was still in place at the beginning of 1886 but was removed shortly afterwards, probably because it portrayed a state of pure happiness which did not fit in with the theme of the composition. It was exhibited in Paris, then in Brussels in 1887, when it was given the title of The Kiss by critics who were surprised at the lack of costume or decorative details referring directly to Paolo and Francesca. Rodin had already rejected the easy solution of picturesque, litterary or mythological subjects which, by distracting the viewer, weakened the emotion that should be felt when contemplating a sculpture.


http://www.musee-rodin.fr/senf2-e.htm#baiser-e
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