Ancient sources of the image of the Thinker
The Statue of the Thinker was created by Auguste Rodin in 1880-1882. Sculptural images of human figures sitting in a pensive posture and laying the head on their hands, are already encountered in prehistoric art. Such a formula of composition was particularly widespread in antique round sculpture and reliefs, often in funerary plastic. The ancient tradition was not lost during the early Christianity and the Middle Ages, including in Islamic art. The images of “thoughtful” figures of intellectuals of the Italian Renaissance, revived the ancient tradition. And further in the art of modern times, the image the thinking person, embodied by Rodin, was not uncommon, both in painting and in sculpture. The contemporaries of Rodin also addressed to such posture in their oeuvre. Rodin undoubtedly studied its various images, both in antique plastics and in the sculpture of the Italian Renaissance, and appealed to them when creating his statue. Many of them he could see in the collections of France and Italy. It is known that when creating the Gate of Hell and the Thinker, Rodin was inspired by the Italian impressions of his 1876 trip.