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Gustave Doré’s Dante: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise
Follow 24 Gustave Doré illustrations through Dante’s Divine Comedy, from the dark wood and the depths of Hell to Purgatory and the light of Paradise.
Dante Lost in the Dark Wood
Gustave Doré A solitary robed traveller stands among towering trunks, exposed roots and dark foliage, turning his face toward a narrow opening in the wood.
Dante's Inferno
Dante Meets Virgil beneath the Trees
Gustave Doré Two robed figures stand close together under spreading branches, with a pale strip of distant sky visible beyond them.
Dante's Inferno
At the Gate of Hell
Gustave Doré Dante and Virgil approach a massive opening in a rocky landscape, dwarfed by its height and surrounding darkness.
Dante's Inferno
Charon Approaches in His Boat
Gustave Doré An elderly ferryman braces against a long oar in a small boat, its bow rising among churning waves beneath a dark rock wall.
Dante's Inferno
The Infernal Storm
Gustave Doré A stream of pale bodies sweeps through a vast dark space while the two travellers watch from a rough ledge.
Dante's Inferno
Francesca Tells Her Story
Gustave Doré A hovering woman addresses the two robed travellers beside a rocky ledge, with another figure close behind her in the moving air.
Dante's Inferno
Farinata Rises in His Fiery Tomb
Gustave Doré A bare-chested figure rises from an open grave, facing the two robed travellers who stand along its edge beneath an immense field of darkness.
Dante's Inferno
Harpies Nest in the Thorn Wood
Gustave Doré Bird-bodied creatures with human faces perch among twisted trunks and tangled branches, surrounding two small travellers on the ground below.
Dante's Inferno
Geryon Carries the Poets into the Abyss
Gustave Doré Two robed figures ride a winged creature whose long tail curls across the open darkness below a rocky wall.
Dante's Inferno
Lucifer at the Centre of the Frozen Pit
Gustave Doré A colossal winged figure rises behind the two small travellers, with exposed bodies embedded in the foreground ice.
Dante's Inferno
The Travellers Emerge beneath the Stars
Gustave Doré Two small robed figures stand on a rocky height beneath a wide night sky, with uneven ground and distant peaks below.
Dante's Inferno
The Radiant Planet at Dawn
Gustave Doré Two robed travellers stand above a shore beneath trees and a brightening sky.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
The Angel Brings Souls to Shore
Gustave Doré A winged steersman rises over a close company of pale figures arriving across the water.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
The Climb Requires Hands and Feet
Gustave Doré Two travellers scramble among immense angular rocks beneath a pale sky.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
The angel at the gate
Gustave Doré A radiant winged figure sits before an arched doorway high in a rock wall.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
The burning terrace
Gustave Doré Three robed travellers stand on a rocky edge beside curling flames.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
Beatrice among the flower-bearing angels
Gustave Doré A crowned woman sits among winged figures carrying flowers against a pale open background.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
Dante immersed in Lethe
Gustave Doré A long-haired woman leans into a stream beside reeds and a wooded bank, holding the traveller beneath the water.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
Faces in the sphere of the moon
Gustave Doré A kneeling traveller and a standing woman face several pale women appearing over clouds.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
A thousand splendours approach
Gustave Doré A luminous company descends through clouds towards the foreground, where several draped figures become individually visible.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
The shining cross
Gustave Doré Winged figures gather into a tall cross above clouds, with Dante and Beatrice watching from the lower right.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
The golden ladder of Paradise
Gustave Doré A shining ascent crowded with luminous figures rises through immense banks of cloud.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
Beatrice in the heavenly assembly
Gustave Doré A crowned woman sits with joined hands on a cloud beneath countless angelic heads.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
The celestial white rose
Gustave Doré Two small figures stand below immense concentric ranks of winged beings surrounding a radiant centre.
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante