signed and dated in the imprint

from “Le 34 tavole di Robert Rauschenberg per l ́Inferno di Dante”, edited in 1965 by Edizioni Macorini, Milano, after the 1958-59 originals from the Museum of Modern Art, New York, “Analogous to the Simonists, corrupt politicians who abuse their power for their own advantage end up in a lake of boiling pitch. They are guarded by demons. Virgil (symbolized by a V) convinces the demon Malebranche (=M) to escort Dante and a group of demons (depicted here as a military troop) through this trench.”