Botticelli, Illustration of Canto 18, the Eighth Circle of Hell

In Botticelli's image it is possible to see the colors that Dante described of the scene in Canto 18, in the first subdivision of the eighth circle, where the pimps/panders and seducers are punished.  Dante describes the scene as “made of stone the color of iron” (Canto 18, ll. 1-2).  He also describes the layout: “from the base of the cliff, bridges moved that cut across the banks and the ditches, as far as the pit that truncates and gathers them in” (ll. 16-18).  Botticelli’s interpretation of these passages show Dante and Virgil walking across the jagged rock, dressed in brilliant blue, purple, and red robes, while everything else in the scene is (as Dante writes) “the color of iron” – dark grey, with a tinge of rust in places. Botticelli depicts the punishment of the pimps/panders and seducers in the first ditch, which Dante describes: “here and there, along the dark rock, I saw horned demons with great whips who were beating them from behind” (ll. 34-36).  Dante describes the souls as naked.  Botticelli depicts the horror on their faces, as they scramble to run from the demons that whip them.  And so they go, round and round for eternity, which is the punishment.

Of all the illustrations of scenes in Inferno, I chose this picture for a number of reasons: 1) it is one of the earlier illustrations of the scene, being drawn by Botticelli at the end of the 15^th century (according to the link, between c. 1480 and c. 1495).  2)  Botticelli, like Dante, was a Florentine, and lived approximately 200 years after Dante.  This gave him a sort of closeness to the text and the author that many artists did not have who lived in later times and various places.  3) Botticelli’s paintings are the only paintings I have found that depict a “time line” of progression in the painting.  One notices that there are multiple figures in the painting of the description I provided above – even 12!  Looking closely however, it is clear that Botticelli is depicting Virgil and Dante as they progress past the first two ditches of the eighth circle.  This makes it possible to paint them with multiple expressions – the first figure of Dante has his hands in the air, looking terrified.  In the fourth picture of Dante (after crossing the first bridge) he has his hand over his face, perhaps plugging his nose because of the stench of dung in the pit below: “The banks were encrusted with a mold” Dante writes, “from the breath from below that condenses there, which assailed both eyes and nose…there we came; and from there I saw, down in the ditch, people immersed in dung that seemed to have come from human privies.” (ll. 106-108, 112-114). 

Punishment of the Panderers and Seducers and the Flatterers

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