Barrators--Giampolo 

Gustave Doré made this engraving of the "Barrators--Giampolo" to illustrate Dante's Inferno during the mid-nineteenth century. The image depicts devils tormenting grafters in a lake of boiling pitch in the eighth circle of hell. Dante's Inferno is replete with social commentary. In it, he used mythical and religious frameworks to critique political corruption in Italy. He wrote it during a time of great political strife between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the former supporting the Papacy and the latter, the Holy Roman Empire. Through his depiction of hell, Dante satirizes his political enemies, thus using art as a tool for social change. To understand this image more deeply, one could begin by exploring the history of Florence in the 13th and 14th centuries. Further research into the Guelphs and Ghibellines, or into the relationship between the papacy and Holy Roman Empire, might reveal a wealth of insight into the social and political context that shaped Dante's work and consequently, this image.