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 original artwork from the Museum of Modern Art, New York, “Dante and Virgil come to the central fountain of the Malebolge at the bottom of which lies the ninth and final circle of hell. Classical and biblical giants stand here chained in eternal vigil, symbolized in Rauschenberg’s work by mirror images of Olympic champions. One of the giants, Antaeus, takes the poets in his large hand and lowers them into the final level of hell.”