1943.429: The Circle of Traitors: Alberti Brothers (from Dante's "Divine Comedy")
DrawingsIn a barren icy landscape, at center in the foreground, we see a group of trapped figures standing shoulder deep in a small frozen lake. At left is a Roman soldier, his hand on a sword that lies on the shore in front of him. Just behind him we see the face of a man wearing a crown looking at the viewer. To his right, a hooded figure stares forward with tears on his cheeks. To his right, a naked demonic creature sits with his back to us on the edge, looking over his shoulder toward two robed men who stand on the shore at left, looking on.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1943.429
- People
-
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
- Title
- The Circle of Traitors: Alberti Brothers (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/297759
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Watercolor, black ink, graphite, and black chalk on off-white antique laid paper
- Dimensions
- 37.1 × 52.3 cm (14 5/8 × 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
- 1943.429
- 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 (64)
- Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Folio Society (London, England, 1998), repr. in color facing p. 126
- David Bindman, William Blake: The Divine Comedy/Die göttliche Komödie/La divine comédie, Bibliothèque de l'Image (Paris, 2000), pl. 67 (color)
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 Objects
Verification Level
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