Auguste Rodin sculpture, “The Thinker.” (AP-Yonhap News)
NEW YORK (AP) ― Two early casts from Auguste Rodin’s masterpiece “The Gates of Hell’’ have sold for a total of more than $16 million at a New York City auction.
“The Thinker’’ sold Tuesday for $15.3 million, a new record for the figure. Sotheby’s hasn’t said who bought it.
A later cast of the statue was auctioned for just under $12 million in 2010.
The full-scale sculpture was commissioned by publishing magnate Ralph Pulitzer in 1906 and made under Rodin’s supervision.
“Ugolino and His Children,’’ from 1883, sold for $965,000. “The Kiss,’’ from 1909, did not sell.
The pieces were consigned by a private collector.
“The Gates’’ is based on Dante’s “Inferno.’’ It was never fully realized. Philadelphia’s Rodin Museum owns the first bronze cast of “The Gates.’’