Doré, Depictions of Purgatorio, Cantos 6-8

In this blog I examine the artwork inspired by Cantos 6-8 of Purgatorio, where Virgil meets Sordello, and Virgil, Dante, and Sordello visit the Valley of Rulers. The images are all available at the Dante Worlds website in Purgatorio, in the section "Valley of Rulers":  http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/purgatory/02valleyofrulers.html#audio.  I examined the following images:

1. John Flaxman’s Sordello
2. Gustave Doré’s Sordello
3. Gustave Doré’s Valley of Rulers
4. Gustave Doré’s Angels and Serpent

The first two paintings depict Virgil meeting Sordello. In the Flaxman painting Virgil and Sordello embrace standing. In the second painting (Doré), Sordello, on his knees, grasps Virgil’s cloak as if weeping with joy when he learns that Virgil is from Mantua – before knowing that it is Virgil. In the corner other souls look on with a perplexed stare, seemingly at Dante who stands behind watching the embrace. Their expression of wonder seems to evoke the text throughout Purgatorio that describes the souls’ amazement that Dante is still alive. Both images include the embrace and Dante nearby, but the Doré seems to capture the emotion of the encounter much better than the Flaxman image. In the Flaxman there is no background, no shading, little detail, and the figures seem rigid. In Doré’s image there is a rich background with great cliffs that rise vertically to the edge of the painting, leafless scraggily trees, and a cloudy sky above misty cliffs in the distance, all evoking the mood and feel of the text, as well as specific features that Dante describes (such as the cliffs). The structure of Purgatory (mountainous, steep, marked with cliffs, etc.) is described in several locations before this point, for example, Cantos 4.35, 5.86, and 6.47. In Canto 5 line 86 the mountain is described as “lofty” and Doré’s images portray a certain loftiness, especially through shading, light, high peaks, clouds, and angels.

The next image (No. 3) is Doré’s depiction of the valley of rulers. This is my favorite picture of them all. In this image Doré uses shading and other effects to create rays of sunlight and flowers, and generally depict the beauty of the valley that Dante describes in the text – all in sepia tones – although the setting here is more like a glade than a valley (a clearing surrounded by woods). The sunlight streams in from the right on the souls sitting there, and the green where they are gathered seems to shimmer with the same effect invoked by the text in Canto 7 lines 73-78 – “Gold and fine silver, cochineal and white lead, / Indian amber bright and clear, fresh emerald at the / instant it is split, / each would be surpassed in color by the grass / and flowers placed within that fold, as the lesser is / surpassed by the greater.”

Image 4 is a further example of the effects and devices Doré uses to illustrate the text. In image 4 Doré depicts the Angels guarding the valley with large wings and flowing robes. They are placed above the clouds, one behind the other, one higher than the other, and both angled upwards at about 30-45 degrees with the horizontal. Dante and Virgil are mere silhouettes below looking up, and the snake in the foreground is in a “supine position”, seemingly on its back looking up at the Angels. Thus there seems to be a hierarchy of all things – divine power, which is above the heavens, which are above man, which is above the snake. All are focused on the angels.

In examining Doré’s paintings one gets the feeling of the text – the “loftiness” (Canto 5.86), the drama, the mood, sometimes melancholy, sometimes contemplative, sometimes joyful. The common thread that seems to link these effects together is not only in the figures/features themselves – with their hierarchy and positioning – but also in the detail, shading, contrasts, and light effects Doré uses to highlight his figures and re-create the feeling of the text.