Dante and Virgil in Hell (1879) was painted by the French artist Gustave Courtois (1852-1923).It shows a scene from Dante’s famous book the Divine Comedy, specifically the visit of Dante and Virgil to the ninth circle of Hell, reserved for those who have betrayed their country. At the bottom right is one of the convicts, Ugolino, gnawing at archbishop Ruggieri’s skull. Ugolino is trapped up to his neck in the ice, in the same hole with his betrayer, Archbishop Ruggieri, who left him to starve to