The Ghosts of Paolo and Francesca Appear to Dante and Virgil
by SCHEFFER, Ary, Oil on canvas, 167 x 234 cm
The painting illustrates a famous episode from the fifth canto of Dante’s Inferno, in which Dante and Virgil see Paolo and Francesca condemned to the darkness of Hell with the souls of the lustful. This is the prime version of a composition Scheffer repeated several times and it has a frame which he specially devised to suit the subject.
Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 16 minutes):
Franz Liszt: Dante-sonata