Art, Symbol & Imagination
Antaeus Lowers the Travellers
A huge bent figure reaches down with a robed traveller held in his hand above a dark rocky opening. Antaeus agrees to place the poets in the frozen region below, and Virgil holds Dante so that they form one burden. Doré bends the giant across the vertical plate and concentrates attention on the small descending figures in his hand. The darkness beneath them hides the destination until the next canto. This is a moment of assisted passage, distinct from the chained giants nearby. The illustration interprets the poem’s scale and movement; it is not a historical image of an actual giant.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Antaeus Lowers the Travellers" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 218. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-211
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Full original plate and caption individually inspected; neighbouring canto read. Editorial title. Source tone and intrinsic damage retained; rotation applies only to Gallery derivatives.
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Gustave Doré (design). Antaeus Lowers the Travellers. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 218. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-211