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Two figures stand in a small boat on a river confronting two figures emerging from the water

In the foreground at left, two robed figures in profile stand in a small boat floating in a river. One of the two leans forward, pushing down on the head of a man emerging from the water who shouts and raises his hands over his head. At right, another figure, a bearded man, also stands in the water leaning into the front of the boat and looking on. In the distance on the other side of the river, a cone shaped tower can be seen on the shore, and rolling hills beyond that.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.439
People
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
Title
Dante and Virgil in the Skiff of Phlegyas are Hailed by Filippo Argenti (from Dante's "Divine Comedy"); verso: sketch for "The Six-Footed Serpent Attacking Agnolo Brunelleschi"(?)
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Virgil Repelling Filippo Argenti from the Boat of Phlegyas
Series/Book Title: Dante, "The Divine Comedy"
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1824-1827
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297626

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor, black ink, graphite, and black chalk on off-white antique laid paper; verso: graphite
Dimensions
37 × 52.2 cm (14 9/16 × 20 9/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: lr: HELL Canto 8

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
1943.439
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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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 (18), pl. 1055
  • 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. 36, fig. 31 (color)
  • David Bindman, William Blake: The Divine Comedy/Die göttliche Komödie/La divine comédie, Bibliothèque de l'Image (Paris, 2000), pl. 18 (color)

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/24/2022 - 05/02/2022

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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