Conceived for The Gates of Hell, where it appeared in two versions in the right panel, Fugit Amor represents the infernal journey of two beings hunted by a storm which, in the second circle of The Inferno, without respite shakes, strikes and plagues those who have given themselves up to a guilty passion. The group is composed of an assemblage of two figures of which one, without doubt the older of the two, is none other than the Despairing Adolescent later called The Prodigal Child. It made an appearance in 1887 at the Georges Petit gallery, and was again exhibited in 1889, at the time of the Monet-Rodin exhibition. This image of an irremediable descent into the abyss corresponds in fact closely to a contemporary symbolist image, taken from the Fleurs du Mal of Baudelaire, which made of woman the maker of man's misfortunes. It is known to have been a great success as is witnessed by the many bronzes in series, and by the four versions in marble.
