Art, Symbol & Imagination
Virgil Throws Earth to Cerberus
A robed guide extends his arm toward a three-headed beast while Dante stands behind him among bodies lying in the wet ground. Cerberus guards the third circle, where relentless rain falls upon the gluttonous. In the poem Virgil throws handfuls of earth into the creature's mouths, gaining passage for the living traveller. Doré places the large animal against the enclosing rock and makes the guide's outstretched arm the bridge between it and the visitors. The bodies beneath them establish the circle's crowded ground. The plate is reproduced in its original dark scan tone; its upright gallery orientation corrects only the sideways placement in the binding.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Virgil Throws Earth to Cerberus" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 59. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-52
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). Virgil Throws Earth to Cerberus. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 59. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-52