While it was customary to illustrate books with a few small images and give predominance to the text, Botticelli instead created illustrations that were similar to paintings, numerous and large, to accompany each canto of the poem. Botticelli illustrated The Divine Comedy for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco dei Medici (who also owned the Primavera) between 14. It is noteworthy that the first commented edition of The Divine Comedy was published in Florence in 1481, at which time the popularity of this poem was growing. Since Botticelli was a learned man, he wrote a commentary on part of Dante’s poem, and after illustrating the Inferno, he printed the work.

From the depths of hell onto the mountain of purgatory and up to the empyrean realms of paradise, Dor 's illustrations depict the passion and grandeur of Dante's masterpiece in such famous scenes as the embarkation of the souls for hell, Paolo and Francesca (four plates), the forest of suicides, Tha's the harlot, Bertram de Born holding his severed head aloft, Ugolino (four plates), the emergence of Dante and Virgil from hell, the ascent up the mountain, the flight of the eagle, Arachne, the lustful sinners being purged in the seventh circle, the appearance of Beatrice, the planet Mercury, and the first splendors of paradise, Christ on the cross, the stairway of Saturn, the final vision of the Queen of Heaven, and many more.Įach plate is accompanied by appropriate lines from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translation of Dante's work.The following is a selection of artists whose works of art have been inspired by The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. The present volume reproduces with excellent clarity all 135 plates that Dor produced for The Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. His illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy constitute one of his most highly regarded efforts and were Dor 's personal favorites.

His Dor Bible was a treasured possession in countless homes, and his best-received works continued to appear through the years in edition after edition.

Gustave Dor (1832-83) was perhaps the most successful illustrator of the nineteenth century.

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