Art, Symbol & Imagination
Dante walks beside the burdened spirit
A robed traveller bends towards a man carrying an immense stone upon his back. Other laden bodies strain beneath similarly oversized blocks while a guide stands beside the path. The Purgatory XII caption compares the travellers' shared pace to oxen in a yoke. Doré makes companionship an adjustment of posture towards someone whose movement is physically constrained. The stones dominate the carriers without turning them into anonymous fragments. The upright guide establishes another level of bodily freedom, allowing the scene to contrast observation, participation and the weight of the mountain's discipline.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Dante walks beside the burdened spirit" [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 77. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/dante-dore-76
Source details
- Dante walks beside the burdened spirit
- Divine Comedy
- Gustave Doré (design)
- Historical book illustration
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). Dante walks beside the burdened spirit. Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante. Scan leaf 77. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/dante-dore-76