This sculpture was originally dated 1910 by G. Grappe in the Musée Rodin catalogues of 1927 and 1929. But that date was revised to 1908 when "it was discovered that in that year a prospective purchaser intended adapting these hands for a fountain...Rodin also called it The Arch of Alliance on occasions, but it is under the name of The Cathedral that it is now universally known. Constructed from two right hands, the work evidently owes its inspiration to an idea which came to Rodin during his ceaseless experimentation with the grouping of fragments from his major works. It was thus this sight of the work that gave him the idea for the title and not vice versa. Rodin's great passion for Gothic architecture, which started with visits to the French cathedrals and Belgian churches in the 1870s and culminated in the publication Cathedrals of France in 1914, and his sensitivity to the expressiveness of hands are thus united in this work." (J. L Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, Philadelphia, 1976, p. 628)