The Ghosts of Paolo and Francesca Appear to Dante and Virgil

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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.

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The Ghosts of Paolo and Francesca Appear to Dante and Virgil

About the Artist

Ary Scheffer

1795 – 1858

Dutch painter, engraver, and book illustrator, active for almost all his career in Paris. His work was immensely popular in his lifetime, but is now generally considered sentimental. Early in his career he favoured literary themes (Francesca da Rimini, Wallace Collection, London 1835, and other versions ), but later he turned to mawkishly treated religious subjects (SS. Augustine and Monica, National Gallery, London, 1854, and other versions). He also painted many portraits. His work is well represented in the museum at Dordrecht, his native town.

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