Art, Symbol & Imagination
Paolo and Francesca: The Interrupted Reading
Two richly dressed readers sit close together beside a tall window, a book resting near them as one leans toward the other. Francesca recounts how reading a romance with Paolo led to their first kiss. Doré shifts from the storm to the remembered room, surrounding the pair with carved furniture, hanging fabric and patterned floor. The book remains visible even as their attention turns from its pages to each other. The caption marks the point at which the reading stopped. This is an episode told within Francesca's speech, and its interior setting distinguishes the recalled earthly moment from the airborne meeting in the second circle.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Paolo and Francesca: The Interrupted Reading" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 55. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-48
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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Dante's InfernoDante AlighieriUndated editionMore from this book
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Gustave Doré (design). Paolo and Francesca: The Interrupted Reading. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 55. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-48