Purgatorio Canto 8 

Gustave Doré created this wood engraving of Purgatorio Canto 8 in nineteenth-century France, during a period of renewed interest in religious imagery. Doré's detailed style brought Dante Alighieri's fourteenth-century "Divine Comedy" to life for a broad audience, thanks to the rise of illustrated books. The image captures a scene of spiritual warfare. We see an angel descending from the heavens while a serpent lurks in the foreground, a visual representation of the struggle between good and evil for the souls in Purgatory. Doré uses light and shadow to enhance the drama, underscoring the moral stakes of the scene. Doré's work reflects the cultural values of his time, a period of intense social change and spiritual questioning. By looking at the original text, and the critical responses to it, we can understand the continuing resonance of Dante's work, as well as the social role of art as a moral compass.