He took his inspiration from Dante's poem, The Inferno, and the gates were to be the Gates of Hell. The Thinker, one of the first figures made for the project, was to sit in the centre of the lintel above the gates, contemplating the souls below him who were guilty of sins of the flesh. Because he was to be seen from below, there are some things about The Thinker that would be different had he been conceived to be viewed as he is now, at normal height. There is little detail in the hair (it wouldn't really be seen from below) his shoulders are huge and his arms are extra long, therefore they are not lost in the foreshortening caused by the unusual viewpoint. Unlike later casts, this example of The Thinker has a really dark surface or patination almost black, with occasional flashes of brown and green.