In which Dante learns about just rulers and the unjust from a giant eagle made from spirits, and sees Jacob’s ladder leading up to the highest heaven.
Dante
Dante meets St Thomas Aquinas in the shell of the sun, then moves upward to that of Mars, where there are holy warriors.
Dante and Beatrice ascend to the shell of Mercury, where they meet Justinian, then on to Venus, where love is the order of the day.
In which Dante, guided by Beatrice, ascends to the first shell of the heavens, containing the moon. Many paintings of Piccarda Donati and the Empress Constance result.
A succinct summary of Dante’s ascent of the mountain-island of Purgatory, with the best of the paintings from Blake to Rossetti.
More superb paintings of the closing moments of the book, by Rossetti, Odilon Redon and others.
Some of the finest paintings of all Dante’s work: Waterhouse, William Blake and others show the arrival of Beatrice in her chariot.
Just before he ascends to the terrestrial heaven on top of the island-mountain of Purgatory, Dante dreams of sisters Leah and Rachel, from the Bible.
Where the gluttons are starved of food and water, and are emaciated as a result. In the next terrace, they are purged of lust by a wall of flames.
Two paintings of the martyrdom by stoning of Saint Stephen, one by Rembrandt, together with Gustave Doré’s fine engravings take us further up the mountain of Purgatory.
The Eclectic Light Company 