DANTE DRINKING FROM THE EUNOE

Original 9 3/4 inch x 7 3/4 inch Engraving DANTE DRINKING FROM THE EUNOE.

Eunoe is a feature of Dante’s Divine Comedy created by Dante as the fifth river of the dead. In the Purgatorio, the second cantica of Dante’s poem, penitents reaching the Garden of Eden at the top of Mount Purgatory are first washed in the waters of the river Lethe in order to forget the memories of their mortal sins. They then pass through Eunoe to have the memories of their good deeds in life strengthened.

Text below the image: ”Were further space allow’d, then, reader! Might I sing, though but in part, that beverage, with whose sweetness I had ne’er been sated.” Canto XXIII., lines 134-137.

Engraved by Paul Jonnard. French wood engraver.

Illustration by Gustave Doré (1832 – 1883). The most popular and successful French book illustrator of the middle of the 19th century. Doré became widely known for his illustrations to such books as Danté’s Inferno (1861), Don Quixote (1862), and the Bible (1866), and he helped to give European currency to the illustrated book of large format. He was so prolific that at one time he employed more than forty wood engravers. His work is characterized by an eclectic mix of Michelangelesque nudes, northern traditions of sublime landscape, and a highly spirited love of the grotesque and bizarre.

Doré began work on his illustrations for the Divine Comedy in 1855 at a time when there was a renewed interest in Dante in France. Doré himself financed the publication of the Inferno in 1861 and this was so successful that the Purgatory and Paradise were published by Hachette in 1868 as a single volume. Subsequently, Doré’s Dante illustrations appeared in roughly 200 editions in many languages.

Illustration for Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy” widely considered to be the preeminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of world literature. It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. This illustration is from Paradiso.

Published as a part work by Cassell and Company, Limited, London. May 1903 – September 1904.

Page size 13 1/4 inch x 10 inch

The engraving, on fairly thick paper, is in very good condition. Reverse side blank.