The Ditch of Thieves: The Serpent Attacking Buoso Donati

Copper-plate engraving showing another scene from the seventh bolgia, in the eighth circle of Hell: smoke and flames form like a roof over the four male figures, two of which stand naked on each side of a bellicose snake. On the left stands Dante, his body almost hiding the figure of Virgil. Donati has just been bitten at the navel by the serpent, and as Dante describes:

One from the wound, the other from the mouth
Breathed a thick smoke, whose vapoury columns join’d.

In addition, Donati’s hair seems to be standing on end as he bends to the left with a somewhat stunned expression. The other thief’s posture, stylized and tormented, suggests he’d rather be in some quieter place.