Rodin--TheKiss
The Kiss [Le Baiser]. (1886)
by Auguste Rodin.Musée Rodin, Paris.
The model in Terra Cotta made before sculpting in marble is in the background.
The form of the lovers emerges from the highlights and shadows of the statue. Light and shade were used by Rodin to create an impression of actuality. He did with modeling that which his contemporaries, the French impressionist painters, were doing with pigment. The convulsive contraction of the toes on the man's right foot and the tenseness of his hand in contrast to the woman's thigh. Such details reveal much of the passion that inflames the lovers, but they reveal it with taste and refinement.
Desciption from: www.musee-rodin.fr/

Inspired by the characters Paolo and Francesca from Dante's "Divine Comedy". 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.