Art, Symbol & Imagination
The giant beside the transformed chariot
A seated woman and a large standing man occupy a woodland vehicle surrounded by horned animal heads. The caption identifies the giant standing beside the woman as they exchange kisses. The canto has already described the chariot's successive attacks and transformation into a many-headed structure. Doré gives this allegorical episode a dense foreground of heads, grass and dark trees, with the two human figures rising above it. The entry records the poem's image without turning its hostile sexual language into an independent judgement about a real woman or assigning unsupported identities to every head.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The giant beside the transformed chariot" [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 190. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/dante-dore-189
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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From the book
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). The giant beside the transformed chariot. Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante. Scan leaf 190. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/dante-dore-189