signed and dated in the imprint

from “Le 34 tavole di Robert Rauschenberg per l ́Inferno di Dante”, edited in 1965 by Edizioni Macorini, Milan, based on the 1958-59 originals from the Museum of Modern Art, New York, “Dante and Virgil pass through the gates of hell and enter the vestibule with the opportunists who were only concerned with themselves in life. They meet Charon, the ferryman who is supposed to take them across the river Acheron to Hell itself. Charon initially refuses, as Dante is a living being, symbolized here by the red heart.”