Thomas Carlyle on Dante's portrayal of the doomed lovers, Paolo and Francesca.

This extract is from Thomas Carlyle's essay, "The Hero as Poet," contained in Hero Worship. It deals with Dante's powerful and famous portrayal of the two lovers, Paolo and Francesca (in the Inferno). "Painting," in this context, refers to Dante's verbal skills, not to the illustration.
The illustration is by Henry Fuseli, "Dante Observing the Soaring Souls of Paolo and Francesca."
The excerpt is from the 1913 reprint, published by Chapman and Hall, London.
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