Canto XVII/4: Flight

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

One of Dante's greatest achievements is the predictive description of flight which ends this Canto. Flight and 'a flight of stairs' are joined in the image as in a pun. This particular staircase is taken from a diagram in J.V. de Vries's La Perspective of 1639. Perhaps Dante's description here would qualify as an early example of Science Fiction, making the technical nature of illustration that much more relevant.