Virgil, Dante and Geryon

In the Divine Comedy, Dante and Virgil, his guide from the classical world, descend through the different levels of Inferno. At the eighth Circle they come across its Guardian, the three-bodied giant, Geryon. He agrees to carry them down to the lowest region of Hell, and they climb upon his back. In Fuseli's drawing, Satan is prefigured in the tail that lashes out over the heads of the two figures. It is similar to a forked tongue, as Geryon is a symbol of Fraud. (Monsters and Maidens, 2004)

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