Art, Symbol & Imagination
Arachne on the pavement of pride
A woman with a spider’s many legs lies amid a rocky scene while the two poets look down. Human limbs and the transformed body crowd the foreground. The poem places Arachne among the images of defeated pride carved on the terrace pavement. Doré gives that pictured warning a vivid body, translating an image within Dante’s journey into a scene viewers can confront directly. The plate concerns the exemplary representation, rather than a new encounter with the living Arachne.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Arachne on the pavement of pride" [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 78. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/dante-dore-77
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Source plate inspected individually; printed canto and lines checked independently of binding position. Editorial title; original scan tone 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). Arachne on the pavement of pride. Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante. Scan leaf 78. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/dante-dore-77