1943.442: The Shades of Homer and Other Poets of Antiquity (from Dante's "Divine Comedy")
DrawingsAt center, a bearded figure in a red robe stands facing us, holding a sword in his left hand and a laurel wreath on his head. At either side of him are three robed figures that drift toward him, hovering just above the ground. Just behind them is a rocky hill and the arched entrance to a cave. At upper left a figure lies asleep on the rocks as another holds him. Above, within the arched entrance are many penciled in notations and small quickly sketched figures.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1943.442
- People
-
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
- Title
- The Shades of Homer and Other Poets of Antiquity (from Dante's "Divine Comedy")
- Other Titles
-
Alternate Title: Homer Bearing the Sword, and his Companions
Series/Book Title: Dante, "The Divine Comedy" - Classification
- Drawings
- Work Type
- drawing
- Date
- 1824-1827
- Culture
- British
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/297627
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Watercolor, black ink, graphite, and black chalk on off-white antique laid paper
- Dimensions
- 36.8 x 52.4 cm (14 1/2 x 20 5/8 in.)
- Inscriptions and Marks
-
- inscription: lr: HELL Canto 4
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
- 1943.442
- 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 (7)
- Martin Butlin and Ted Gott, William Blake in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (Melbourne, 1989), pp. 56, 87
- David Bindman, William Blake: The Divine Comedy/Die göttliche Komödie/La divine comédie, Bibliothèque de l'Image (Paris, 2000), pl. 7 (color)
- Hatsuko Niimi, Blake's Dialogic Texts, Keio University Press (Tokyo, 2006), [in English] pp. 300-301, fig. 18
Exhibition History
- Re-View: S426A (Large Niche) #1: The Past and the Present: British Art of the 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/03/2010 - 11/20/2010
- 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/07/2016 - 05/08/2016
Related Objects
Verification Level
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