The frightening depiction of Hell follows Dante’s use of contrapasso (suffer the opposite) in which the sinners’ penance is based on the nature of their crimes. The gluttons to Satan’s left, for example, face a dinner table, but the tormenting demons prevent them from eating.
This print is a copy of a mid-1330s fresco in Campo Santo, Pisa, by Francesco Traini. It was made by an unknown Florentine engraver before extensive renovations to the fresco in 1523 radically altered the composition.