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>
Beatrice Addressing Dante Car
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
abstract concepts
actions: expressive
adults
animals: fantastic
Beatrice
Bible: Old Testament
book, ‘Bible’
characters
chariot
Charity - female figure in red
cherub
Christ - griffin
Christian Church - Beatrice
Dante
Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Paradiso’
Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Purgatorio’
Ezekiel, chapter 1
Faith - female figure in white
female
Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
griffin
Hope - female figure in green
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
man
mythical, religious, fictional
nudes
objects
people
places
poetic genius - Dante
pointing
reading, writing, printed matter
religion and belief
religious
river
River Lethe
Saints
society
St John the Evangelist
St John the Evangelist - eagle
St Luke
St Luke - ox
St Mark
St Mark - lion
St Matthew
St Matthew - angel
symbols and personifications
transport: land
universal religious imagery
water: inland
woman
<p>At the end of <i>The Divine Comedy</i>, Dante is guided through Heaven by Beatrice, his ideal woman. Here she is surrounded by the four apostles, depicted as embodiments of the symbolic animals with which they are traditionally associated. Luke resembles an ox, a creature Lavater described as severe and simple, while Mark appears as a lion, which Lavater saw as strong and bold. John has the face of an eagle, which, according to Lavater, means he ‘must be a brave man’. Matthew is shown as a man with idealised, Christ-like features that seem to echo those of Beatrice.</p><p><em>Gallery label, March 2011</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 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 March 2007 – 31 May 2007
2007-05-31
25 March 2007 – 29 July 2007
2007-07-29
2007-03-25
Palazzo del Mercato Vecchio (Verona, Italy)
2007-03-01
II settimo splendore. Percorsi e smarrimenti
Loan-out
18 October 2008 – 5 April 2009
2009-04-05
18 October 2008 – 19 April 2009
2009-04-19
2008-10-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2008-10-18
Blake and Collins
Collection based display
11 November 2010 – 3 April 2011
2011-04-03
11 November 2010 – 3 April 2011
2011-04-03
2010-11-11
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-11-11
Blake and Physiognomy
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 April 2015
2015-04-06
13 May 2013 – 6 April 2015
2015-04-06
2013-05-13
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2013-05-13
William Blake
Collection based display
11 September 2019 – 2 February 2020
2020-02-02
11 September 2019 – 2 February 2020
2020-02-02
2019-09-11
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2019-09-11
William Blake: The Artist
Exhibition
Beatrice Addressing Dante from the Car
support: 372 × 527 mm
frame: 599 × 742 × 21 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
<p>At the end of <i>The Divine Comedy</i>, Dante is guided through Heaven by Beatrice, his ideal woman. Here she is surrounded by the four apostles, depicted as embodiments of the symbolic animals with which they are traditionally associated. Luke resembles an ox, a creature Lavater described as severe and simple, while Mark appears as a lion, which Lavater saw as strong and bold. John has the face of an eagle, which, according to Lavater, means he ‘must be a brave man’. Matthew is shown as a man with idealised, Christ-like features that seem to echo those of Beatrice. 
<br/></p>

Display caption
2011-03-18T00:00:00
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-beatrice-addressing-dante-from-the-car-n03369" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03369</span></a> <b>Beatrice Addressing Dante from the Car</b> 1824–7
<br/>
<br/>N 03369 / B <i>88</i>
<br/>Pen and watercolour 372×527 (14 5/8×20 3/4)
<br/>Inscribed ‘P-g Canto 29 &amp; 30’ in ink b.r. and, on reverse in pencil, ‘Pg Canto 29’ b.r. upside down and ‘24’ turned through a right-angle
<br/>Watermarked ‘WELGAR 1796’
<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 <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>
<br/>EXHIBITED RA 1893 (27); Paris and Vienna 1937 (27); Paris, Antwerp, Zurich and Tate Gallery 1947 (29v, repr.); Hamburg and Frankfurt 1975 (215, colour pl.15); Tate Gallery 1978 (334, repr.); Pescara 1983 (18, repr.in colour).
<br/>LITERATURE Rossetti 1863, p.222 no.102s, and 1880, p.234 no.124s; Keynes <i>Faber Gallery</i> 1946, p.22, colour pl.10; Roe 1953, pp.164–71 no.88, repr.; Blunt 1959, p.91, pl.63; Roe in Rosenfeld 1969, p.183, pl.20; Gage in <i>Warburg Journal</i>, XXXIV, 1971, p.375 n.26c; Bindman 1977, pp.218–19, pl.179; Klonsky 1977, p.111, repr.in colour; Paley 1978, p.73, colour pl.112; Paley in Essick and Pearce 1978, p.177; Klonsky 1980, pp.17, 158–9, colour pl.91; Butlin 1981, p.584 no.812 <i>88</i>, colour pl.973; Gizzi 1983, p.169 repr., and in colour pp.70–1; Hilton 1983, pp.216, 228, pl.69; Baine 1986, p.109, pl.47; Fuller in <i>Art History</i> 1988, pp.354–7, pl.42. <i>Also repr: Savay</i>, no.5, September 1896, p.29; <i>Mizue</i>, no.882, 1978, 9, pp.34–5 in colour
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<br/>This is an illustration to <i>Purgatorio</i> XIX, 92–129, XXX, 31–3 and 64–81, and XXXI, 113–14 and 130–45; the scene takes place in the Terrestial Paradise. For Dante the gryphon and Beatrice symbolised Christ and the Church, and the three girls (in white, green and red) Faith, Hope and Charity; the figures at the four corners of the car are the four Evangelists. The previous illustration, now in the British Museum (Butlin 1981, no.812 <i>87</i>, repr. Roe 1953, pl.87, Klonsky 1980, pl.90 in colour, and Gizzi 1983, p.168) shows the poet's first view of Beatrice on the car (or chariot) seen across the river Lethe; Virgil has now left Dante at the borders of Purgatory itself and Dante is escorted by Matilda, probably the Grancomtessa of Tuscany (1046–1115), a great benefactor of the Holy See and Church.
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<br/>This is one of the key works in Roe's interpretation of the series as in part a criticism of Dante. The divergences from Dante's text, such as the vortex that acts as the wheel of the car, the gold crown substitued for Beatrice's olive wreath, the book towards which Faith is pointing, the child-like forms surrounding Charity, and the fact that Dante is shown having now crossed the river Lethe, are taken to suggest that Blake is depicting the subjection of the Poetic Genius (Dante) to the Female Will (Beatrice); the latter is equated with Rahab, the fallen state of Vala, Blake's goddess of nature, the three attendant figures with the Daughters of Memory, and the Evangelists with the four Zoas. Dante is thus shown as choosing the wrong way out of Beulah, Blake's equivalent for Purgatory. Fuller however disputes this, suggesting that, despite Blake's inscription, the scene is actually that described in Canto XXXI of <i>Purgatorio</i> with elements taken from the previous two Cantos. In Canto XXXI Dante has crossed Lethe and Beatrice is shown at the moment when she draws aside her veil. The reason she wears a crown rather than a wreath is that Blake disliked Dante's association of Beatrice with Minerva; Dante describes Beatrice as wearing the ‘fronde di Minerva’ (XXX, 68). Charity is usually shown surrounded by children, as indeed in Blake's <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/tempera" title="Glossary definition for 'Tempera'"><span>tempera</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of the subject (Butlin 1981, no.428, pl.494). The book at which Faith is pointing is the scriptures. Hope, though usually shown with an anchor, is twice mentioned by Dante as dancing. The reason for the colourful vortex that replaces the wheel of the car, Fuller suggests, is that Blake wanted to convey the intense light by which Dante is dazzled; in the text this comes from the candelabrum borne ahead of the car, and indeed its rays are suggested flooding across 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/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> from the right. The source for Blake's imagery is Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel, 1, 15–21) of great wheels full of eyes and turned by the spirits of living creatures. Ezekiel also provides the source of the animal heads shown each side of Beatrice which are merely hinted at by Dante; they are of course the traditional symbols of the Evangelists. Fuller suggests that Blake avoids the identification of Beatrice with the Church but sees her as Divine Wisdom. The great advantage of Fuller's interpretation is that, unlike Roe's, it does not run counter to the generally joyous effect of this glowing <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a>, which has always been a problem to at least some Blake scholars.
<br/>
<br/>A newly discovered <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/graphite" title="Glossary definition for 'Graphite'"><span>pencil</span></a> sketch of a standing woman of the Huntington Library is related to the figure of Charity, in red and standing second from the left, and also, in the turn of the head and the piling up of the hair, to that of Faith, in white in the centre of the composition. This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> was found on the back of a sketch for 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> of another of the Dante compositions, ‘The Six-footed Serpent Attacking Agnolo Brunelleschi’ (Butlin no.822; for the new drawing see Jenijoy La Belle, ‘A Pencil Sketch for Blake's Dante Illustrations’, <i>Blake</i>, XIX, 1985–6, pp.73–4, repr.pl.1, and Essick <i>Huntington</i> 1985, pp.128–31).</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
abstract concepts actions: expressive adults animals: fantastic Beatrice Bible: Old Testament book, ‘Bible’ characters chariot Charity - female figure in red cherub Christ - griffin Christian Church - Beatrice Dante Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Paradiso’ Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Purgatorio’ Ezekiel, chapter 1 Faith - female figure in white female Garden of Eden Garden of Eden griffin Hope - female figure in green literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) man mythical, religious, fictional nudes objects people places poetic genius - Dante pointing reading, writing, printed matter religion and belief religious river River Lethe Saints society St John the Evangelist St John the Evangelist - eagle St Luke St Luke - ox St Mark St Mark - lion St Matthew St Matthew - angel symbols and personifications transport: land universal religious imagery water: inland woman