Art, Symbol & Imagination
The Spotted Beast Blocks Dante’s Ascent
A spotted cat crouches between rocks while Dante draws back on the higher ground; a distant landscape opens beyond the obstruction. This scene illustrates the first of the beasts that interrupt the traveller's attempted ascent. The animal's low, alert posture contrasts with Dante's raised arms and retreating body. The open country beyond it shows that the obstacle is not the absence of a possible route, but the danger encountered while trying to reach it. Cary's caption calls the animal a panther. The gallery retains that edition's account without treating one symbolic reading of the three beasts as the only possible interpretation.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The Spotted Beast Blocks Dante’s Ascent" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 18. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-11
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Full source plate visually inspected; original scan tone retained. Editorial title. Sideways bound plates turned upright in the derivative only; source and reader unchanged.
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Gustave Doré (design). The Spotted Beast Blocks Dante’s Ascent. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 18. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-11