Canto V/3: Birds

Lithograph proof approved by the artist and signed / initialled by him, taken from the original Talford Press edition of 185, printed on 100% rag, acid-free Inveresk (Somerset) paper

page size 39.5 x 31 cm

1979 – 1983

Via a succession of three bird images Dante gradually isolates his chosen representatives of carnal sin, Paolo and Francesca. The doves 'with wings held high motionless' are taken appropriately from Muybridge's Animals in Motion and are the first two of seven suspended movements in a single flap of a pigeon's wings. The colours are improvised from the original black-and-white photos.