The Ditch of Thieves: The Serpent Attacking Buoso Donati

Copper-plate engraving depicting another scene from the seventh bolgia in the eighth circle of Hell: smoke and flames form a roof over four male figures, two of whom stand naked on either side of a bellicose snake. On the left stands Dante, his body almost obscuring 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.