Ugolino and his Sons: Fifth Day (recto); Dante and Virgil: Anatomical Studies (verso)

Auguste Rodin French

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Drawing was essential to Rodin’s process of translating episodes from Dante Alighieri’s medieval epic "Inferno" into visual form for his monumental commission "The Gates of Hell." The story of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, a traitor who was imprisoned, condemned to starvation, and ultimately resorted to eating the flesh of his own sons, particularly captured Rodin’s imagination. His depiction emphasizes their agony by exposing the tense musculature in their tormented bodies.

Ugolino and his Sons: Fifth Day (recto); Dante and Virgil: Anatomical Studies (verso), Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Pen and brown ink, graphite, and traces of brown ink wash on graph paper

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Ugolino and his Sons: Fifth Day (recto); Dante and Virgil: Anatomical Studies (verso), Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Pen and brown ink, graphite, and traces of brown ink wash on graph paper
Ugolino and his Sons: Fifth Day (recto); Dante and Virgil: Anatomical Studies (verso), Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Pen and brown ink, graphite, and traces of brown ink wash on graph paper
Ugolino and his Sons: Fifth Day (recto); Dante and Virgil: Anatomical Studies (verso), Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Pen and brown ink, graphite, and traces of brown ink wash on graph paper
Ugolino and his Sons: Fifth Day (recto); Dante and Virgil: Anatomical Studies (verso), Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Pen and brown ink, graphite, and traces of brown ink wash on graph paper

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