Graphite, 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>
Devils with Dante and Virgil by Side Pool
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
adults
architecture
bridge
bridges and viaducts
characters
crime and punishment
Dante
Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Inferno’
devil
figure
fire
government and politics
group
groups
Hell
Hell
Judaeo-Christian imagery
literary
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
miscellaneous
mythical, religious, fictional
natural phenomena
objects
people
places
poet
political corruption
politician - non-specific
pool
public service
punishment
religion and belief
society
tar
universal religious imagery
Virgil
water: inland
work and occupations
<p>This is Blake’s illustration to part of Dante’s Inferno, from the Divine Comedy. It shows the trench of corrupt politicians in the eight circle of Hell. Above are the stone bridges that Dante describes as characteristic of this part of Hell, which was reserved for the fraudulent.</p><p>The half-submerged figures on the right are people who sold public offices; they are drowning in a sea of boiling pitch. Virgil and Dante are watching on the left, escorted by a group of devils.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2004</em></p>
paper unique graphite ink watercolour
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
15 August 2007 – 18 November 2007
2007-11-18
15 August 2007 – 18 November 2007
2007-11-18
2007-08-15
Wordsworth Trust (Grasmere, UK)
http://www.wordsworth.org.uk
2007-08-15
Dante Rediscovered
Loan-out
29 October 2024 – 30 September 2025
2025-09-30
30 October 2024 – 2 February 2025
2025-02-02
2024-10-30
Reggia di Venaria Reale (Turin, Italy)
1 September 2025 – 31 January 2026
2026-01-31
2025-09-01
Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest, Hungary)
1 March 2026 – 31 August 2026
2026-08-31
2026-03-01
External
2024-10-29
William Blake and the Age of Romantic Fantasy: British Art & Imagination
Loan-out
The Devils, with Dante and Virgil by the Side of the Pool
support: 372 × 526 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="para3">
<span class="text6">This is Blake’s illustration to part of      Dante’s </span><span class="text0">Inferno</span><span class="text10">, from the </span><span class="text0">Divine Comedy</span><span class="text10">. It shows the trench of corrupt politicians in the eight      circle</span><span class="text6"> </span><span class="text11">of Hell.      Above are the stone bridges that </span><span class="text6">Dante describes      as characteristic of this part </span><span class="text10">of Hell, which      was reserved for the fraudulent</span><span class="text6">. </span>
</div>
<div class="para3">
<span class="text11">The half-submerged figures on the right </span><span class="text6">
</span><span class="text7">are people who sold public      offices; they are drowning in a sea of boiling pitch. Virgil and</span><span class="text6"> Dante are watching on the left, escorted by  </span><span class="text11">a group of devils.</span><span class="text6">
<br/> </span>
</div>

Display caption
2004-02-10T00:00:00
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-devils-with-dante-and-virgil-by-the-side-of-the-pool-n03358" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03358</span></a> <b>The Devils with Dante and Virgil by the Side of the Pool</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 03358 / B 812 <i>40</i>
<br/>Pencil, pen and watercolour 372×527 (14 5/8×20 3/4)
<br/>Inscribed ‘HELL Canto 22’ in ink b.r. and, on reverse in pencil, ‘8t’ t.l. 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 Tate Gallery (41 ix), Manchester (48 ix), Nottingham (42 xiv) and Edinburgh (63) 1913–14; Paris and Vienna 1937 (20)
<br/>LITERATURE Rosseti 1863, p.219 no.101m<sup>1</sup>, and 1880, p.230 no.123m<sup>1</sup>; Roe 1953, pp.94–5 no.40, repr.; Hagstrum 1964, pp.125–6, pl.70; Klonsky 1980, p.147, pl.42; Butlin 1981, pp.568–9 no.812 <i>40</i>; Gizzi 1983, p.120 repr.
<br/></p>
<p>This is an illustration to <i>Inferno</i> XXII, 1–30, a general impression of the trench of corrupt politicians in the eighth circle, that of the fraudulent. On the right sellers of public office are seen in a sea of boiling pitch. Virgil and Dante, with an escort of devils, are shown on the left. The arched forms are the stone bridges that characterise this part of Dante's Hell.</p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-16T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults architecture bridge bridges and viaducts characters crime and punishment Dante Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Inferno’ devil figure fire government and politics group groups Hell Hell Judaeo-Christian imagery literary literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) miscellaneous mythical, religious, fictional natural phenomena objects people places poet political corruption politician - non-specific pool public service punishment religion and belief society tar universal religious imagery Virgil water: inland work and occupations