Art, Symbol & Imagination
Ciacco Speaks among the Fallen
The two cloaked travellers stand above a crowd of prone and kneeling bodies, one figure lifting his head and shoulders to address them. The caption refers to the envy overflowing Dante’s city in Ciacco’s speech. Doré makes that civic conversation emerge from a crowded, degraded ground: the speaker is surrounded by bodies whose overlapping limbs prevent any calm separation of the group. The travellers remain upright and clothed at the centre, contrasting with the exposed figures around them. This is an encounter within Dante’s third circle, rather than an image documenting an actual historical gathering in Florence.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Ciacco Speaks among the Fallen" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 60. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-53
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Full original plate and caption visually inspected. Editorial title; original scan tone and intrinsic damage retained. Sideways plates rotated in the Gallery derivative only.
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Dante's InfernoDante AlighieriUndated editionMore from this book
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Gustave Doré (design). Ciacco Speaks among the Fallen. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 60. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-53