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Which literary work inspired Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingresâs Paolo and Francesca?
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Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Self-portrait, oil on canvas by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, c. 1800; in the Condé Museum, Chantilly, France.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingresâs 1819 painting Paolo and Francesca was inspired by the Inferno, the first section of the epic poem The Divine Comedy by the Italian poet Dante.123
The painting illustrates the tragic demise of the ill-fated lovers Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta, who are famously encountered by Dante in the second circle of Hell.412