Ink and watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Art Fund
Illustrations to Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-blake-39" aria-label="More by William Blake" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Blake</a>
Pit Disease Falsifiers
Purchased with the assistance of a special grant from the National Gallery and donations from the Art Fund, Lord Duveen and others, and presented through the Art Fund 1919
actions: processes and functions
adults
characters
crime and punishment
Dante
Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Inferno’
diseases and conditions
female
Hell
Hell
illness
Judaeo-Christian imagery
landscape
literary
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
looking / watching
male
man
mountain
mythical, religious, fictional
nudes
people
places
poet
punishment
religion and belief
rocky
scratching
society
valley
Virgil
work and occupations
<p>Dante and Virgil have arrived at the circle of Hell inhabited by ‘falsifiers’ such as forgers. They are tormented by numerous diseases.</p><p>Blake used a red lake, probably brazilwood, and a gritty vermilion red to show the flames of Hell. These pigments have very different working properties, and are not easy to use in thin washes in gum medium. He preferred to use vermilion whenever a blood red or a living flesh tone was required. Here he has used it for parts of the diseased bodies of the two falsifiers at the right, which are raw with scratching.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper unique ink watercolour
8 July 2002 – 1 October 2003
2003-10-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-07-08
William Blake Body and Soul
Collection based display
8 July 2002 – 16 March 2003
2003-03-16
8 July 2002 – 16 March 2003
2003-03-16
2002-07-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-07-08
Body and Soul
Collection based display
24 March 2003 – 17 November 2003
2003-11-17
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-03-24
Blake and Illustration
Collection based display
24 November 2003 – 22 November 2004
2004-11-22
10 November 2003
2003-11-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-11-24
William Blake the Painter at Work
Collection based display
1 November 2011 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
1 November 2011 – 19 February 2012
2012-02-19
2011-11-01
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
3 July 2012 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
2012-07-03
Fundació “la Caixa” (Madrid, Spain)
2011-11-01
Blake Exhibition
Loan-out
13 May 2013 – 6 October 2013
2013-10-06
13 May 2013 – 6 October 2013
2013-10-06
2013-05-13
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2013-05-13
Landscape in Blake
Collection based display
The Pit of Disease: The Falsifiers
support: 372 × 527 mm
Purchased with the assistance of a special grant from the National Gallery and donations from the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a>, Lord Duveen and others, and presented through the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 1919
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text6">Dante and Virgil have arrived at the  circle of Hell      inhabited by ‘falsifiers’  such as forgers. They are tormented  
by numerous diseases.  </span>
</div>
<div class="para10">
<span class="text3">
<br/> </span>
</div>
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text16">Blake used a red lake, probably brazilwood</span><span class="text3">, </span><span class="text6">and a gritty vermilion red to      show the </span><span class="text3">flames of Hell. These pigments have      very different working properties, and are not </span><span class="text17">easy      to use in thin washes in gum <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/medium" title="Glossary definition for 'Medium'"><span>medium</span></a></span><span class="text3">. He      preferred to use vermilion whenever  </span><span class="text6">a </span><span class="text19">blood red or a living flesh <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/tone" title="Glossary definition for 'Tone'"><span>tone</span></a> was </span><span class="text18">required</span><span class="text3">. Here he has used it for parts      of </span><span class="text17">the diseased bodies of the two falsifiers a</span><span class="text3">t the right, which are raw with scratching. </span>
</div>

Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-the-pit-of-disease-the-falsifiers-n03362" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03362</span></a> <b>The Pit of Disease: the Falsifiers</b> 1824–7 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-the-circle-of-the-lustful-francesca-da-rimini-the-whirlwind-of-lovers-a00005" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00005</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-dante-striking-against-bocca-degli-abati-a00011" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00011</span></a>; <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-dante-and-virgil-penetrating-the-forest-n03351" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03351</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-dante-in-the-empyrean-drinking-at-the-river-of-light-n03370" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03370</span></a>; <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-the-circle-of-the-lustful-francesca-da-rimini-the-whirlwind-of-lovers-t01950" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T01950</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-dante-striking-against-bocca-degli-abati-t01956" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T01956</span></a>; complete]
<br/></p>
<p>N 03362 / B 812 <i>58</i>
<br/>Pen and watercolour 372×527 (14 5/8×20 3/4)
<br/>Signed ‘WB’ and inscribed ‘HELL Canto 29 &amp; 30’ in ink b.r. and, on reverse in pencil, ‘For this see P 62’ t.c. and ‘28’ t.r., both turned through a right-angle
<br/>Watermarked ‘WE’
<br/>Purchased with the assistance of a special grant from the National Gallery and donations from the National Art-Collections Fund, Lord Duveen and others, and presented through the National Art-Collections Fund 1919
<br/>PROVENANCE As for <span>N03351</span>
<br/>EXHIBITED RA 1893 (16); Paris and Vienna 1937 (23)
<br/>LITERATURE Rossetti 1863, p.220 no.101e<sup>2</sup>, and 1880, p.231 no.123e<sup>2</sup>; Roe 1953, pp.115–17 no.58, repr.; Klonsky 1980, p.150, colour pl.61; Butlin 1981, p.574 no.812 <i>58</i>; Gizzi 1983, p.139 repr.
<br/></p>
<p>This is an illustration to <i>Inferno</i> XXIX, 46–84, and XXX, 49–99, a scene in the tenth trench of the eighth circle, that devoted to the falsifiers who are punished with innumerable diseases. The two figures scratching themselves are Griffolino of Arezzo and Capocchio of Florence. The three figures on the left may be Adam of Brescia, described by Dante as being lute-shaped (see especially the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraving</span></a>), with Potiphar's wife and Sinon the Greek, who persuaded the Trojans to admit the Trojan Horse.
<br/>
<br/>This is one of the subjects engraved by Blake (repr. Roe 1953, pl.58 E, Bindman 1978, pl.652 and Klonsky 1980, pl.108); see also <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-the-pit-of-disease-the-falsifiers-a00010" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00010</span></a>.
<br/>
<br/>The bridge of petrified figures is similar to those that appear in ‘The Devils under the Bridge’ and ‘Dante Striking against Bocca degli Abati’ (National Gallery of Victoria and City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham respectively; Butlin 1981, nos.812 <i>34</i> and <i>65</i>, repr. Roe 1953, pls.34 and 64, Klonsky 1980, pls.39 and 68 and Gizzi 1983, pp.117 and 146). They seem to represent Fallen Man at his furthest remove from Divine Energy and are a suitable setting for these scenes of physical suffering.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin, <i>William Blake 1757-1827</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, V, London 1990
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-05T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: processes and functions adults characters crime and punishment Dante Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Inferno’ diseases and conditions female Hell Hell illness Judaeo-Christian imagery landscape literary literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) looking / watching male man mountain mythical, religious, fictional nudes people places poet punishment religion and belief rocky scratching society valley Virgil work and occupations