Art, Symbol & Imagination
The Sorrow of Limbo
The two travellers stand beside seated and reclining figures under trees, with pale ground separating the group from the deeper shade. Virgil explains that the inhabitants of the first circle live in desire without hope. Doré gives that condition a quiet arrangement rather than the violent motion of later circles: bodies rest, heads lower, and the visitors listen. The open patch of ground brings the people together while the enclosing trees preserve the sense of separation from the world beyond. The caption anchors the image to Limbo's spiritual deprivation. It does not identify each seated person, so the catalogue avoids naming them from appearance alone.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The Sorrow of Limbo" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 41. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-34
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 Sorrow of Limbo. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 41. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-34