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.
Divine Comedy
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.
So into the first terrace of Purgatory proper, for those who suffered from pride. On up to the second, for the envious, whose eyelids are sewn shut.
As they can’t continue ascending Purgatory after dark, Dante and Virgil rest overnight in a valley with rulers. In the morning, Dante has been carried up to the gate into Purgatory itself.
