On August 16, 1888 Rodin signed with Jules Ferry, then the French Minister of Public Instruction, a decree that stated: he 'is charged with the execution, for the sum of 8,000 francs, of a decorative door destined for the Museum of Decorative Arts decorated with bas-reliefs representing scenes from the Divine Comedy of Dante.' The Museum was never built and the 'decorative door' cost far more than 8,000 francs, but it was never called for delivery by the government nor cast in bronze before the artist's death in 1917. With regard to the subject it was very likely suggested by Rodin himself as he had been a fervent admirer of Dante whose narratives from Inferno had occupied him since late 1870s as evidenced by his numerous drawings and sketches at the time. Rodin, at first, worked out the idea for 「The Gates」 based on the Italian Quattrocento counterpart, 「The Gates of Paradise」 by Ghiberti which he saw during his Italian trip of 1875. As the work progressed, however, he abandoned the original renaissance format of the door fragmenting it into 8 to 10 independent rectangular panels of identical size, each containing separate narratives, and, while maintaining central vertical division due to the door's physical function, incorporated into a single unified whole dramatic scenes of intensely tumultuous, often violent but erotic bodily movements and gestures inspired by turbulent, terrifying episodes from Inferno. This 'baroque' transformation of the door is perhaps relevant to his reevaluation of Dante's epic drama which is too extensive to be contained in a shallow format, thus compelled him to turn to, this time, mannerist wall painting of Michelangelo's 「Last Judgment」. The final solution of the door is above 5 metre high for which he modelled more than 100 nude figures in the round, some falling and tumbling into the darkness of the infernal sea, and others soaring into the air desperately but in vain trying to escape the fate of the others; some in singles in despair, others in pairs and in groups, clinging and protecting each other;, some are contained within the structure, but others jutting out of architectural frame. The compositional programme behind multitude of figures of various sizes in the Gates was to "follow my imagination, my own sense of arrangement, movement and composition. It has been from the beginning and will be to the end, simply and solely a matter of personal pleasure," and these figures and groups were modelled independently from each other. The inspirational source may come from Dante and his Inferno, but the expressive sculptural outcome is entirely Rodin's own invention, and for his own delectation. Regarding his method of working, Camille Mauclair in his Rodin of 1918 reports: "Every instant, he improvised a small figure expressing the quick assessment of a feeling, an idea or a shape and placed it in the door with the other figures, then moved it and where necessary, broke it to use the fragments in the quest for other ideas." This is the reason behind 「the Gates」 where one recognizes only a few identifiable characters from Inferno, namely, Paolo and Francesca, Ugolino and his Sons, The Shades and the Thinker. Many of these figures and groups grew larger, separate groups. In my study I shall focus on one of these characters, 「Ugolino and his Sons」, examine what constitutes the meaning of the subject within the 「Gates」 and to Rodin himself. Rodin's interest in the subject/image of 「Ugolino and his Sons」, roughly coincides with that of Dante's poems, c. 1876-77, immediately after his trip to Italy where he presumably saw the famous Belvedere Torso of Hellenistic Greece. The subject reappeared in the so-called Dante/Black gouache drawings, approximately 30 of which belong to the Ugolino or related themes. This alone explains the importance attached to the theme by the sculptor. I shall trace the development of the theme by scrutinizing the related drawings and works by him and other masters of the period and attempt at establishing the real meaning of the theme, which would help understand true nature of Rodin's genius and his life.