What was the original title of Auguste Rodin’s sculpture The Kiss?

Auguste Rodin’s sculpture The Kiss originally had the title Francesca da Rimini.

The title refers to Francesca da Rimini, a character in Dante’s Divine Comedy. In Dante’s story, Francesca falls in love with Paolo, her husband’s brother; the lovers are discovered and killed. Rodin first treated the embrace as part of The Gates of Hell before developing it into a separate sculpture.

The work was later known as The Kiss, a title that emphasizes the intimate action rather than the literary narrative. Its smooth marble surface and intertwined bodies made it one of Rodin’s most recognizable sculptures.

The subject is sometimes identified simply as Paolo and Francesca, but Francesca da Rimini was the original title. The couple is not Tristan and Isolde, another famous pair often associated with tragic love.