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A creature stands aboard a boat as figures crowd aboard it from the shore

At center, a single-masted boat is tied to a ring on the dock on the shore of a river. A crowd of figures is herded on to the boat by a creature in tattered clothes who stands at the center of the boat, wielding a large paddle in one hand. Behind him the boat is already crowded with dozens of tightly crammed figures. Behind the people on shore, two robed figures look on from on top of a rocky hill. In the distance at left other figures climb down another tall hill.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.445
People
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
Title
Charon and the Condemned Souls (from Dante's "Divine Comedy")
Other Titles
Series/Book Title: Dante, "The Divine Comedy"
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1824-1827
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297457

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor, black ink, graphite, and black chalk on off-white antique laid paper
Dimensions
37.2 x 52.3 cm (14 5/8 x 20 9/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: r: HELL Canto 3
    lr: 76

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville Lindall Winthrop, New York, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.445
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Agnes Mongan, "The Fogg Art Museum's Collection of Drawings", Harvard Library Bulletin, Harvard University (Cambridge, 1958), vol. 3, no. 2, March, pp. 5-9, p. 202
  • Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1981), no. 812 (6)
  • David Bindman, William Blake: The Divine Comedy/Die göttliche Komödie/La divine comédie, Bibliothèque de l'Image (Paris, 2000), pl. 6 (color)

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu