Art, Symbol & Imagination
Sordello Listens to Virgil
A kneeling figure faces a standing robed man while a second traveller waits behind them. The caption gives Virgil's statement that he has reached this place through every circle of the sad region. In the surrounding dialogue Sordello recognises the guide and asks about his journey. Doré centres the encounter on lowered and upright figures, with seated spirits and steep trees filling the valley behind. The image belongs to their conversation before the survey of rulers; the title does not treat it as an unrelated act of worship.
Read the source pageLoading your collection…
Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Sordello Listens to Virgil" [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 51. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/dante-dore-50
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.
Sources
From the book
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of DanteDante Alighieri; translated by Henry Francis Cary; illustrated by Gustave Doré1901More from this book
All 60 illustrations
Related illustrations
Cite this illustration
Gustave Doré (design). Sordello Listens to Virgil. Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante. Scan leaf 51. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/dante-dore-50