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Gustave Doré :
Gustave Doré, by Nadar
Gustave Doré was born in 1832 in Strasbourg and died in Paris in 1883.
His career as an illustrator was intense and wide-ranging (his is one of the more notable series of illustrations of Don Quijote). His 76 illustrations of Inferno appeared in 1861, and were followed by the 42 of Purgatorio and 18 of Paradiso.
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Most observers agree that, among Dante's many illustrators, Doré is the most faithful to the letter of Dante's text.
His illustrations take Dante's descriptions at face value. Nothing is symbolic or transcendent. A devil is a devil, torture is torture. Sinners have historically correct names.
I do not think that this is childish. It shows what the words say and what they meant at the time the poems were written.
Modern presentations of Wagner operas show Valkyries flying Mig-29 jet fighers and Wotan is CEO of IBM. Dantes Satan in Bayreuth or Salzburg today, of course, would be a Mr. Fagan, attorney at law, from USA and not the ugly mean creature with a big hot fork as shown by Dore. Personally I prefer Dore. I hope that nobody "modernises" Dante and Dore. (HK)
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