Art, Symbol & Imagination
Adrian asks Dante to rise
A kneeling traveller bends towards a prone figure among many bodies stretched along a narrow rocky ledge. His companion stands upright behind him. The caption tells Dante to stand because both he and the speaker serve the same sovereign power. The meeting with Adrian reverses the traveller’s instinct to offer hierarchical reverence. Doré sets the small act within the wider terrace of avarice, where repeated prostrate bodies give humility an unmistakable physical form.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Adrian asks Dante to rise" [editorial title]. In Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante, Dante Alighieri; translated by Henry Francis Cary; illustrated by Gustave Doré. New edition, 1901, 1901, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 118. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/dante-dore-117
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Source plate inspected individually; printed canto and lines checked independently of binding position. Editorial title; original scan tone retained.
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Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of DanteDante Alighieri; translated by Henry Francis Cary; illustrated by Gustave Doré1901More from this book
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Gustave Doré (design). Adrian asks Dante to rise. Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante. Scan leaf 118. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/dante-dore-117