Art, Symbol & Imagination
The envious souls support one another
Seated figures huddle along the foot of a towering rock wall while two travellers move among them. Bent heads and closely joined shoulders give the company a dependent, inward posture. The Purgatory XIII caption compares them with blind people asking for alms beside confessionals. Doré uses proximity to make mutual support visible: bodies share the wall, the ground and one another's shoulders. The height of the cliff exaggerates their vulnerability without erasing their different faces. The standing pair introduces a mobile viewpoint into a company whose world has narrowed to immediate contact.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The envious souls support one another" [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 87. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/dante-dore-86
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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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 envious souls support one another. Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante. Scan leaf 87. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/dante-dore-86