Art, Symbol & Imagination
Forese asks about the two guides
An emaciated robed figure addresses two travellers while other gaunt people sit behind him. The caption asks who the two accompanying spirits are and requests that Dante speak. In the canto the voice enables Dante to recognise Forese despite his altered appearance, and their exchange explains the hunger and thirst of this terrace. Doré places the speaker centrally between the standing visitors and the weakened company. The picture belongs to a literary account of purification; its visible thin bodies are not presented as a medical illustration or evidence of an actual afterlife condition.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Forese asks about the two guides" [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 128. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/dante-dore-127
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Full plate and printed caption individually viewed. Matching canto passage read; misplaced bindings identified by caption, not physical adjacency. Original tone and printing wear 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). Forese asks about the two guides. Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante. Scan leaf 128. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/dante-dore-127