Gustave Doré’s illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy really are something to behold. And looking at them now, over 150 years after their original publication, it’s easy to see why they were such a big artistic and commercial success in their day.
Back in the day, Doré actually had difficulty finding a publisher and ended up financing the publication of the first book of the series, Inferno in 1861, out of his own pocket because no one was willing to take on the expense of producing the expensive folio edition he envisioned. The fools!
These days however, it’s easy to pick up a collection of his illustrations that accompanied Dante's Masterpiece.
Here are a few pictures of some of the more dramatic plates.
Written by grrenth.
