Divine comedy with illustrations of Gustav Dore

The poem "Divine Comedy" for seven centuries has been a symbol of spiritual revival. Meanwhile, at the time of writing in 1307, its creator was a full -fledged loser: having supported the interests of opponents of the ruling party, Dante Aligieri was accused of abuse of official position and expelled from Florence.
Having not found help to the living, the former politician and thinker urged the dead To defend it, he created the first work not in Latin, but in Italian, which glorified the national literature of Italy forever and combining the features of both ancient and Christian culture. Along with the "Aeneida" of Virgil and the Bible, this book is still considered prophetic.
In its vision of Dante, accompanied by the greatest playwright of antiquity - Virgil - went down to the afterlife, where he went through hell, purgatory and paradise. And the lower the travelers descended into hell, the more Dante"s hero was imbued with sympathy for sinners - the forgotten and glorious heroes of antiquity. In this vision filled with symbols, everything is an animal, stone and even a person - plays his intended role as a divine providence.
After more than 500 years, Dante"s melancholy visions transferred to the visual images, the artist Gustav Dorea. Inspired by medieval images, Botticelli paintings and Michelangelo frescoes, a romantic Dore from 1855 to 1869 created about 150 engravings for the poem. The first edition with illustrations to part "Hell" was completely dispersed immediately after the circulation was released in 1861. Then the friend of Gustav Dorea Theophilus Gauthier writes: "There is no other such an artist who is better than Dore, could illustrate Dante. He has the visionary look that is inherent in the poet. The artist creates an atmosphere of hell: underground mountains and abysses, a gloomy sky where there is never a sun. He conveys this unearthly climate with amazing persuasiveness. "