Art, Symbol & Imagination
Phlegyas Carries the Poets over Styx
An oarsman leans over his long pole at the prow of a small boat while the two cloaked passengers stand close together amid bodies in the water. The vessel sinks more deeply because Dante is alive and has weight, unlike the shades usually carried across. Doré positions the ferryman at one end and the closely paired travellers at the other, making the little boat a fragile strip between the surrounding figures. The caption links its altered movement directly to the living passenger. The episode marks a transition toward the city of Dis, with the water itself still occupied by the tormented company the poets have just observed.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "Phlegyas Carries the Poets over Styx" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 70. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-63
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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Gustave Doré (design). Phlegyas Carries the Poets over Styx. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 70. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-63