The 172nd birthday of Auguste Rodin, widely thought to be the father of modern sculpture, has been celebrated with a Google doodle.

The search engine has replaced the multicoloured Google logo on its homepage with an illustration depicting Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture The Thinker.

Rodin, born in Paris in 1840, is widely believed to be the founder of modern sculpture.

A traditional sculptor who eschewed the predominant figure sculpture tradition of the times, Rodin's work was initially unpopular, but gained momentum over the course of his life until he was a world-renowned artist by the time he reached his 60s.

Born into a working-class family, Rodin failed three times to win entrance to the Grand École art college in Paris.

His rejection was a significant setback, and after his sister died five years later, when he was 22, he turned away from art, briefly joining a Catholic order.

There the abbot encouraged him to devote his life to art, and he went on to work for the sculptor Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse.

At the same time he met his life partner Rose Beuret, whom he did not marry until 1917, the year of his death.

His early work was notable for its engagement with the human body and celebration of physicality.

His style never changed throughout his career and his work gradually became more and more popular until he became the preeminent French sculptor of his time.

The first Google Doodle appeared in 1998 when the search engine's founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page replaced the logo with a picture of a Burning Man, to notify the world that they had gone on holiday to the Burning Man Festival.