Book Title: Dante's Inferno; Translated by the Rev. Henry Francis Cary, M.A. from the original of Dante Alighieri, and illustrated with the designs of M. Gustave Doré.

Author: Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

Image Title: Beatrice

Description: Beatrice appears to Virgil and instructs him to guide Dante and keep him from harm. She is wreathed in a nimbus of holy light, the only source of illumination in the piece, and points heavenward to indicate where she has come from. Scholars identify her with one Beatrice di Folco Portinari (1266-1290), a Florentine woman who was the inspiration for Dante’s "La Vita Nuova" and the object of his unrequited love. Here, she represents the knowledge of heavenly truth and the incarnation of beatific love.

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