April 13, 2013 - 11:25 AMT
Three Rodin sculptures coming to New York City auction

Three early casts from Auguste Rodin’s masterpiece “The Gates of Hell” are coming to a New York City auction, The Associated Press reports.

Sotheby’s says “The Thinker” could fetch up to $12 million on May 7.

The full-scale sculpture was commissioned by publishing magnate Ralph Pulitzer in 1906 and made under Rodin’s supervision. A later cast sold for just under $12 million in 2010.

The other works are “The Kiss” from 1909 and “Ugolino and His Children” from 1883. They’re owned by a private collector.

“The Gates,” based on Dante’s “Inferno,” was never fully realized.

Philadelphia’s Rodin Museum owns the first bronze cast of “The Gates.”