The Gates of Hell (detail)

This detail represents Ugolino on the left door of The Gates.

Ugolino appears in cantos XXXII and XXXIII of Dante’s Divine Comedy (the Antenora ring of the ninth circle, for those who betrayed country or companions). Ugolino della Gherardesca, count of Donoratico, played an equivocal role in the wars that raged between Guelphs and Ghibellines among - and even within - Italian cities. In 1289, Ugolino was accused of treason and imprisoned with his sons and two grandsons in the Gualandi Tower in Pisa. There they all died of hunger. Legend has it that Ugolino ate the flesh of his dead children in an effort to survive, before succumbing to hunger himself.

The subject of Ugolino had already been handled by Carpeaux during his stay in Rome. Rodin had also approached the subject at an earlier date, during his time in Brussels, employing a seated pose. Yet at the same time he sketched a version in which Ugolino was crouching, the one that would ultimately be seen on the left door of The Gates. This final pose spectacularly accentuates the horror described by Dante.