Art, Symbol & Imagination
Ugolino Gnaws at Ruggieri’s Head
The poets stand beside two exposed heads, one leaning over the other at the surface of the frozen pit. Dante first compares the action to a story from ancient war, then asks the upper figure to explain his anger. The next canto supplies the names Ugolino and Ruggieri. Doré places the visitors close enough to address the pair, making the violent action part of a conversation rather than a distant spectacle. This is the poem’s imagined revenge following an account of imprisonment and hunger. The engraving is not eyewitness evidence of either historical man’s conduct or of the circumstances of their deaths.
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Gustave Doré (design). "Ugolino Gnaws at Ruggieri’s Head" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 227. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-220
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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). Ugolino Gnaws at Ruggieri’s Head. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 227. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-220