Art, Symbol & Imagination
The Nine-Day Fall
A mass of winged bodies tumbles along a steep diagonal through cloud and darkness. Limbs, hair and feathers overlap as scattered weapons accompany the downward movement. The Book VI caption measures the fall in nine days, but Doré makes that duration visible through a seemingly continuous cascade. No single body commands the scene or supplies a stable resting point. The enormous surrounding atmosphere allows the falling company to extend beyond ordinary human scale, while the repeated bent forms keep the catastrophe bodily rather than reducing it to a distant flash of light.
Read the source pageLoading your collection…
Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The Nine-Day Fall" [editorial title]. In Paradise Lost: Illustrated by Gustave Doré, John Milton; illustrated by Gustave Doré; edited by Henry C. Walsh. Undated John W. Lovell Company edition; exact publication year unverified, undated edition, John W. Lovell Company. Source scan leaf 197. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/milton-dore-196
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Original source design and caption inspected; composition retained with scan margins trimmed. No reconstructed or recoloured details.
Sources
From the book
Paradise Lost: Illustrated by Gustave DoréJohn Milton; illustrated by Gustave Doré; edited by Henry C. WalshUndated editionMore from this book
All 40 illustrations
Related illustrations
Cite this illustration
Gustave Doré (design). The Nine-Day Fall. Paradise Lost: Illustrated by Gustave Doré. Scan leaf 197. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/milton-dore-196