The Thinker at the Musée Rodin, France

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When conceived in 1880 as a crowning element of The Gates of Hell, seated on the tympanum, The Thinker was originally called The Poet. He depicted Dante, author of the Divine Comedy, leaning forward to observe the circles of Hell while meditating on his work. Therefore, The Thinker was initially both a being with a tortured body and a free-thinking man determined to transcend his suffering through poetry. His pose owes much to Carpeaux's Ugolino (1861) and Michelangelo's seated portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici carved between 1526-31. While remaining on the monumental Gates of Hell, The Thinker was exhibited individually in 1888 and became an independent work. Enlarged in 1904, its colossal version proved even more popular: this image of a man lost in thought has become one of the most celebrated sculptures ever known. Numerous casts exist worldwide, including one in the gardens of the Musée Rodin, a gift to the City of Paris installed outside the Panthéon in 1906. The Thinker is an iconic bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin, depicting a nude male kneeling with his chin resting on his fist as if deep in thought; this pose represents Rodin's revolutionary style of sculpture. It stands 73 inches high and can be found at La Musée Rodin in France. This object is part of the Scan The World project, a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures and artworks from across the globe for public access. Scan The World is an open source community effort; if you have interesting items around you and want to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how.