Menu Close

SAVOYV3_icon5_blake_francesca

This halftone reproduction of a steel-plate engraving by William Blake is in landscape orientation. The image shows a scene from Dante’s Inferno, in which the poet, Dante, sees the shades of the adulterous lovers, Paolo and Francesca, in the first circle of hell, where the damned writhe in endless torment. These three figures form the centre of the composition. Dante is positioned In the mid-ground to the right of centre on a piece of rocky land jutting out into a sea. He is wearing a long robe and has long hair; his hands are out to the side, palms down. He stands facing the viewer with his body slightly turned to the left of the page, and bent down at the waist. He is looking down at a body that lies horizontally at his feet. The body is lying prone with its arms at its sides and face to the sky. The land on which he stands is covered by some water from the crashing waves. Dante turns to the shades of Paolo and Francesca, in an enclosed flame beside and above him. Paolo, is on the left and Francesca on the right; they are holding each other in their arms. Francesca, the woman, is wearing a flowing dress and Paolo, the man, appears to be naked. To the right of the flame that encloses them, and above the figure of Dante, in the top right corner, is a bright sun-like circle with two figures inside of it. Within the circle is one faceless figure seated on the left and another seated to the right; they appear to be on a rock. Dark lines extend out to the left and right, and then extend down to the sealine and up to the top of the page, forming the sky. The foreground of the image is comprised of swirls of flame containing naked bodies of the damned above the sea [of brimstone].