The Judaeo-Christian tradition lacks any goddess, unlike its predecessors in Mediterranean cultures. Is there an equivalent among its saints, or the Virgin Mary? An exploration in paintings.
narrative
The souls of those who delayed their repentance until shortly before death stay in Ante-purgatory for a whole lifetime. Among them is a virtuous wife who was murdered by her husband.
Dante and Virgil sail to the island-mountain of Purgatory, where they are met by Cato. They then start its ascent, illustrated by William Blake, Doré and others.
The very best paintings showing Dante’s journey through Hell, as described in his Inferno. William Blake, Corot, Doré, Koch, and more.
The final canto of the Inferno takes Dante to see Lucifer himself, after which Virgil guides him back to the surface of earth.
Count Ugolino was a leading and treacherous politician, who could only be trusted to betray others. He was left to die in prison of starvation.
She proves unfaithful to King Arthur, in her public affair with Sir Lancelot. But he may not have exactly been loyal to her either.
The Circe of Arthurian legend, for much of the time she battles with King Arthur. But when he is mortally wounded in battle, they are reconciled. Stories in paintings.
From the fraudsters in the last rottenpocket of the eighth circle of Hell, they move on the ninth circle of the treacherous – a frozen lake. Paintings by Doré, Blake, Bouguereau, and Fuseli.
From thieves, Dante and Virgil move on to meet souls of those who had committed fraud, including Ulysses, a headless troubadour, and an alchemist.
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