The Underworld

Charon carries the dead through a densely populated vision of the underworld. The chapter leads the reader from the cavern near Avernus past personified sorrows and monstrous guardians to the rivers, judges and divided destinations of the dead. Its geography draws prominently upon Virgil's account.

The surrounding pages distinguish the punishments of Tartarus from the rewards beyond judgement and consider ancient explanations for these imagined places. In the engraving, crowded bodies, smoke, water and branching darkness make the underworld a complete landscape rather than a single emblem of death.

Historical context is adapted from the accompanying commentary by Antoine de La Barre de Beaumarchais. Its interpretations reflect the period in which the book was published.

This edition follows plate 55 in Le Temple des Muses. The complete historical page and its explanatory text remain available in the source record. Source attribution: Bernard Picart and other engravers, Le Temple des Muses (1749 edition). Museum date: 1749 (publication). Source medium: Engraving, inner pictorial scene. Source portfolio: Le Temple des Muses, plate 55.

The inner illustration has been straightened and extracted from its surrounding engraved frame, caption and paper. The comparison shows that extracted engraving beside Surrealium's contemporary colour interpretation.

Surrealium's contemporary AI-assisted colour interpretation takes this print as its starting point. The colours are interpretive choices made for this edition.

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