Art, Symbol & Imagination
The Heavenly Messenger Opens Dis
A radiant figure extends a slender wand toward a great gate while Dante and Virgil bow nearby and the surrounding souls recoil on the ground. A messenger sent from Heaven resolves the obstacle that Virgil’s negotiation could not overcome. Doré concentrates light around the arriving figure and contrasts the calm upright stance with the bent, scattered bodies in the foreground. The gate is a tangible boundary, opened by a small gesture rather than a battle shown in the plate. The caption identifies the wand’s touch as the decisive action. The messenger is not named in this passage, so the Gallery retains the source’s description rather than assigning a specific angelic identity.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The Heavenly Messenger Opens Dis" [editorial title]. In Dante's Inferno, Dante Alighieri. New Edition, undated supplied scan, undated edition, Thompson & Thomas. Source scan leaf 78. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/inferno-dore-71
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). The Heavenly Messenger Opens Dis. Dante's Inferno. Scan leaf 78. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/inferno-dore-71