An engraving of Dante Aligheri (c.1265–1321), poet. Author of the Divine Comedy describing his journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise guided by the poets Virgil and Statius and by Beatrice, the object of Dante's love. Here the descending levels of Hell are depicted at the left, and the mountain of Purgatory ascending to Paradise at the right.  Above Dante's portrait there is a roundel with Beatrice, and below it a roundel with Virgil. Within border of angels heads. There is confusion over the states of the print. This is the second state, but is described incorrectly in the New Hollstein as the first state. The name of the dedicatee is given as 'Ludovico' on the first state, and is illustrated as such in the New Hollstein but not described. The changes to the plate are visible in the dal Pozzo impression.

This print is lettered throughout. Around the central portrait: "DANTES ALIGERIVS FLORENTINVS POETA"; at the lower left: "Ioan. Stradanus inuent"; at the lower right: "Phls Galle exud."; along the bottom: "DANTES ALIGERIVS patritius Florentinus, … / ILLVSTRI ET NOBILI VIRO ALOYSIO ALAMANNIO CORNELIVS GALLÆVS SCVLP. ET DD.".

The print formed part of an album of portrait prints assembled by Cassiano dal Pozzo in Rome. Described in an early nineteenth-century inventory of prints in George III's library as Italian Poets, Historians &c:^a, the album comprised 159 prints. It was dismantled later in the nineteenth century and its contents sold during the early twentieth century, when only a few of Cassiano's foreign non-royal portrait prints were retained for the collection. 

For more information see Mark McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. I: Ceremonies, Costumes, Portraits and Genre, 3 vols, Royal Collection Trust 2017, part of The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo: A Catalogue Raisonné, cat. no. 1571