The Celestial Rose - Gustave Doré (1868) - Limited Edition Fine Art Print

Limited edition: only 20 numbered prints

The last vision of the Divine Comedy, at the size of the original engraving. A spiral of thousands of angels turns around a point of blinding light, ring after ring, until it fills the whole sky. On a cloud in the foreground, two tiny dark figures stand before it: Dante and Beatrice. Few images in the history of illustration give such a feeling of the infinite.

In Canto XXXI of Paradiso, Dante reaches the Empyrean, beyond time and space. The souls of the blessed appear to him "in fashion then as of a snow-white rose", an immense flower whose petals are rows of the elect, while angels fly back and forth between the rose and God like bees between flowers and the hive. Doré turns the rose into a vortex of wings and light: a cathedral without walls.

Why it works on your wall

• A collector's piece: numbered, with a certificate, and printed at the exact size of Doré's engraving
• Luminous and meditative: silvery greys and a radiant centre for a study, a library, a bedroom or a quiet corner
• Framing tip: a thin black or gilded frame with a wide white mat gives it the look of an antique print

Doré's Divine Comedy

Gustave Doré (1832–1883) was 23 when he began illustrating Dante. No publisher would risk such a lavish book, so he paid for the Inferno himself; it appeared with Hachette in 1861 and sold out at once. Purgatorio and Paradiso followed in 1868, bringing the whole Divine Comedy to 135 plates. Doré drew straight onto blocks of boxwood, and a team of master engravers cut his lines into the wood: hence the velvety blacks and the light that seems to come from nowhere. The Celestial Rose is one of the last plates of Paradiso, and one of the most reproduced images of the whole series.

Print specifications

Dimensions: 24.5 × 19.8 cm (9.6 × 7.8 in)
Faithful to the size of the original 1868 engraving

• Original artwork: wood engraving, 1868, Paradiso, Canto XXXI
• Artist: Gustave Doré (1832–1883)
• Edition: limited to 20 numbered prints
• Paper: Ilford Cotton Textured 310gsm, 100% cotton rag, acid-free
• Finish: natural white with a subtle texture
• Printing: high-resolution archival inkjet
• Certificate: numbered certificate of authenticity included
• Shipping: free, no minimum order

Only 20 prints available. Secure your numbered print before the edition is complete.

Also in limited edition: Dürer's Melencolia I. Continue the journey through Dante with The Golden Eagle and Lucifer, King of Hell, or explore all our Gustave Doré prints.