Art, Symbol & Imagination
Dante Waits among the Armed Escort
The two cloaked travellers are surrounded by winged figures carrying raised hooks and poles across a rocky bank. After Virgil’s negotiation, Dante comes forward anxiously and the company assembles for the next stage of travel. Doré makes the weapons loom around the comparatively still poets, preserving the uncertainty of an escort whose promises will prove unreliable. The source caption records the fear of being overcome. This is a tense pause within the fifth ditch, not a battle resolved in the picture; the apparent protection offered by the escort remains part of the canto’s deception.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Dante Waits among the Armed Escort" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 151. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-144
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Full original plate and caption individually inspected; exact neighbouring canto read. Editorial title. Source tone and intrinsic damage retained; rotation applies only to Gallery derivatives.
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Gustave Doré (design). Dante Waits among the Armed Escort. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 151. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-144