Canto IX/2: Beatrice

 Lithograph page 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

Nine, the trine of trines and the magical number of Beatrice, has a special significance for Dante. The book is permeated with threeness and the poet chooses this, the ninth of the cantos, to point out the cryptic nature of his text.

The form of the image reflects the style of some of the artist's notebooks for this project, and echoes in its palimpsestic character the overlaying of systems in Dante's whole oeuvre.