Rodin produced three life-size versions of the sculpture. The embracing subjects are Francesca da Rimini and her husband's brother Paolo Malatesta, the adulterous lovers from Dante's Inferno, depicted before their murder by Francesca's furious husband. In the story the couple grow close while reading the tale of Lancelot and Guinevere, thus the statue's Paolo clutches this book in his hand. Originally Rodin intended for The Kiss to be part of his Gates of Hell, but then decided it did not fit and should be displayed as an individual statue.

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Written by  Amber Dobrzensky.

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