Art, Symbol & Imagination
The examination amid the clouds
Three luminous robed figures face two travellers upon a broad bank of cloud. One visitor bends forward while the other remains upright beside him, beneath an open atmospheric sky. The Paradise XXVI caption asks where the soul's aspiration begins and ends, during the pilgrim's temporary loss of sight. Doré makes the exchange a formal gathering without building walls around it. The standing company and the lowered traveller establish different levels of presence through posture. The cloud's soft edge retains the heavenly setting while allowing the scene's essential action to remain an encounter of question and response.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The examination amid the clouds" [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 337. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/dante-dore-336
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Original source design and caption inspected; composition retained with scan margins trimmed. No reconstructed or recoloured details.
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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 examination amid the clouds. Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante. Scan leaf 337. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/dante-dore-336