1943.434: Donati Transformed into a Serpent; Francesco de'Cavalcanti Retransformed into a Man (from Dante's "Divine Comedy")
DrawingsWithin a burning landscape, a naked man walks a step forward, looking up and raising his hands. His hair sticks up and out resembling tongues of flame and his skin is colored in pale red and blue blotches. A twisting snake glides up along the ground to him from behind, looking up at him from the right with wide open jaws. Giant pale gray stone arches are seen in the distance among rising flames and billowing smoke clouds above.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1943.434
- People
-
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
- Title
- Donati Transformed into a Serpent; Francesco de'Cavalcanti Retransformed into a Man (from Dante's "Divine Comedy")
- Other Titles
-
Alternate Title: Buoso Donati Transformed into a Serpent; Francesco de' Cavalcanti Retrans...
Series/Book Title: Dante, "The Divine Comedy" - Classification
- Drawings
- Work Type
- drawing
- Date
- 1824-1827
- Culture
- British
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/297459
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Watercolor, black ink, graphite, and black chalk on off-white antique laid paper
- Dimensions
- 37 x 52.3 cm (14 9/16 x 20 9/16 in.)
- Inscriptions and Marks
-
- inscription: lc: HELL Canto 25
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
- 1943.434
- Division
- European and American Art
- Contact
- am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.
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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 (54)
- Anne Maheux, "An Analysis of the Watercolour Technique and Materials of William Blake" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, July 16, 1982), Unpublished, pp. 1-50 passim
- William Blake, William Blake: paintings, watercolors, and drawings, exh. cat., Salander-O'Reilly Galleries (New York, NY, 1992), p. 50 under no. 16
- David Bindman, William Blake: The Divine Comedy/Die göttliche Komödie/La divine comédie, Bibliothèque de l'Image (Paris, 2000), pl. 57 (color)
- David Bindman, Stephen Hebron, and Michael O'Neill, Dante Rediscovered: From Blake to Rodin, exh. cat., The Wordsworth Trust (Grasmere, UK, 2007), p. 34, fig. 15
Exhibition History
- Portrait, Prospect and Poetry: British Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Bequest, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/11/1993 - 11/07/1993
Related Works
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