A man pulls the hair of a figure trapped in a hole, while another figure bites into the neck of a crouching man. Second image is a small sketch of a man in a hat.
recto Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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recto Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

In a barren white landscape, two figures in the foreground at right are trapped chest-deep in a hole. At center, a man in a long red robe tears at the hair of one of the trapped figures as another man behind him in a blue robe looks on. At left, behind the man in blue, a bearded man bites into the back of the head of a man crouching on the ground in front of him, as blood drips down the side of his face. The reverse side of this page shows a small sketch at lower right of a head in profile wearing a wide brimmed hat.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.430
People
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
Title
Dante Seizing the Traitor Bocca by the Hair (from Dante's "Divine Comedy"); verso: Head of a Cardinal
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Dante Tugging at Bocca's Hair
Series/Book Title: Dante, "The Divine Comedy"
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1824-1827
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297625

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor, black ink, graphite, and black chalk on off-white antique laid paper; verso: graphite
Dimensions
37 × 52.3 cm (14 9/16 × 20 9/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: lr: HELL Canto 32

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
1943.430
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 (66)
  • Charles H. Taylor and Patricia Finley, Images of the Journey in Dante's Divine Comedy, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1997), p. 99, fig. 99 (color)
  • David Bindman, William Blake: The Divine Comedy/Die göttliche Komödie/La divine comédie, Bibliothèque de l'Image (Paris, 2000), pl. 69 (color)

Related Objects

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