In Paolo and Francesca da Rimini, how is the The Triptych and the inspiring Canto of the History elucidated?
Francesca was the sister-in-law of Paolo Malatesta, and both were married, but they fell in love. Their tragic adulterous story was told by Dante in his Divine Comedy, Canto V of the Inferno, and was a popular subject with Victorian artists and sculptors, especially with followers of the Pre-Raphaelite ideology, and with other writers.
The triptych has several inscriptions taken from Canto V, with Rossetti bringing the story to life by writing relevant quotations in the original Italian around the edge of the composition. Its three parts read from left to right. The left-hand panel shows the adulterous kiss that condemns the lovers: staying faithful to Dante's poem, Rossetti depicts them reading about the Arthurian knight Sir Lancelot who also suffered for his forbidden love (his figure can be seen on the book's open page, dressed, like Paolo, in red and blue). The scene illustrates the following lines from Dante's text:One day we read, to pass the time away,
of Lancelot, of how he fell in love;
alone we were, and no suspicion near us 
... then he, who never from me shall separate,at once my lips all trembling kissed.
The central panel depicts two of Rossetti's literary heroes crowned with laurel: the Roman poet Virgil and the much-revered Dante himself – they regard with concern the two lovers on the right, who appear to float like wraiths in each other's arms, amid the flames of hell. Their adulterous relationship uncovered, they were murdered by Francesca's husband and Paolo's brother, Giovanni Malatesta, and banished to the second circle of hell.In the final panel of the triptych, the lovers are being blown about violently with the wind, as described by Dante's verses: The infernal storm, eternal in its rage, sweeps and drives the spirits with its blast.
Virgil Victorian Lancelot Divine Comedy Sir Lancelot Triptych Canto V Francesca Paolo Malatesta Giovanni Malatesta Pre-Raphaelite Arthurian Inferno triptych