The Golden Eagle — Gustave Doré (Dante's Purgatorio)

Carried off by an eagle, in a dream, towards the light. Wings spread from one edge of the image to the other, a huge eagle swoops through the sky, holding a small robed figure in its talons: Dante. Behind them, a disc of light sends rays across the whole scene, while banks of cloud and jagged peaks fall away below. It is one of the most luminous plates Doré ever made, and the signature of the engravers, Gauchard and Brunier, can be seen at the bottom right.

In Canto IX of Purgatorio, Dante falls asleep at dawn on the slopes of the mountain and dreams that a golden eagle seizes him, like Ganymede in the myth, and carries him up to the sphere of fire. He wakes with a start: while he slept, Saint Lucy had carried him to the very gate of Purgatory. Doré chose to show the dream rather than the waking.

Why it works on your wall

• Light and movement: a sky full of rays and clouds that brightens a hallway, a living room or a staircase
• Symbol of elevation: a powerful image for a study, an office or a meditation corner
• Framing tip: a gilded or dark wood frame, as in our photos, gives it the presence of an old master

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.

• Artist: Gustave Doré (1832–1883)
• Work: illustration for Dante's Divine Comedy, Purgatorio, Canto IX
• Date: 1868
• Technique: wood engraving, cut by Gauchard and Brunier
• Literary source: Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio

Your print

• Restored from a high-definition scan of the original engraving, keeping its deep blacks and silver greys
• Printed in Europe on thick archival matte paper, FSC certified
• From A4 to A0, plus 40×60, 50×70, 60×90 and 70×100 cm and 12×18 to 27×40 inch sizes, all made for standard frames
• Free shipping, no minimum order. Shipped rolled in a sturdy tube

Pair it with Arachne, another plate from Purgatorio, or with Minos, or explore all our Gustave Doré prints.