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>
Simoniac Pope
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: expressive
adults
burn
cauldron
cave
characters
crime and punishment
Dante
Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Inferno’
diseases and conditions
embracing
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
fire
Hell
Hell
horror
Judaeo-Christian imagery
kitchen
landscape
literary
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
male
man
mythical, religious, fictional
named individuals
natural phenomena
Nicolas III, Pope
nudes
objects
pain
people
places
poet
pope
punishment
religion and belief
religious
simony
society
Virgil
work and occupations
<p>This violent scene illustrates the eighth circle of Hell described in Dante’s ‘Inferno’. Dante and Virgil witness the punishment of those souls guilty of simony (buying or selling church offices or positions). Here they encounter Pope Nicolas III, whose punishment is to be submerged headfirst into a well of fire, with flames also burning on the soles of his feet. This is to continue until the next sinner takes his place. Virgil clasps Dante in his arms, protecting him from the fiery pit.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2023</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
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
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
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
17 April 2023 – 12 May 2024
2024-05-12
17 April 2023 – 12 May 2024
2024-05-12
2023-04-17
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-04-17
Blake
Collection based display
The Simoniac Pope
support: 527 × 368 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="text">
<p>This violent scene illustrates the eighth circle of Hell described in Dante’s ‘Inferno’. Dante and Virgil witness the punishment of those souls guilty of simony (buying or selling church offices or positions). Here they encounter Pope Nicolas III, whose punishment is to be submerged headfirst into a well of fire, with flames also burning on the soles of his feet. This is to continue until the next sinner takes his place. Virgil clasps Dante in his arms, protecting him from the fiery pit. </p>
</div>

Display caption
2023-10-26T00:00:00
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-simoniac-pope-n03357" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03357</span></a> <b>The Simoniac Pope</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 03357 / B 812 <i>35</i>
<br/>Pen and watercolour 527×368 (20 3/4×14 1/2)
<br/>Inscribed ‘WB HELL Canto 19’ in ink b.l. and, on reverse, ‘8’ t.r.
<br/>Watermarked ‘WELGAR 1796’ 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 (10); Paris, Antwerp (pl.17), Zurich and Tate Gallery (repr.) 1947 (29iv); <i>Masters of British Painting</i>, New York, St Louis and San Francisco 1956–7 (10, repr. in colour p.58); Tate Gallery 1978 (325, repr.); Pescara 1983 (8, repr. in colour)
<br/>LITERATURE Rossetti 1863, p.218 no.101g<sup>1</sup>
and 1880, p.229 no.123g<sup>1</sup>; Roe 1953, pp.91–2 no.35, repr.; Blunt 1959, p.90, pl.58b; Burke 1964, p.124, pl.106 (reprinted in Essick 1973, p.290, pl.99); Klonsky 1977, p.112, repr. in colour; Klonsky 1980, p.145, colour pl.36; Butlin 1981, p.567 no.812 <i>35</i>; Gizzi 1983, p.114 no.36 repr., also repr. in colour p.60; Fuller in <i>Art History</i> 1988, p.365. <i>Also repr.: Mizue</i>, no.882, 1978, p.44 in colour
<br/></p>
<p>This is an illustration to <i>Inferno</i> XIX, 31–126, showing the punishment of the Simoniacs in the third trench of the eighth circle. Virgil clasps Dante to carry him away from the wrath of Pope Nicolas III, whose punishment for simony was to be suspended head downwards in a well of fire until replaced by another Pope guilty of the same sin. Pope Nicolas has mistaken Dante for Boniface VIII whom he has foreseen as his successor, but Boniface did not die until 1303, three years after the date established by Dante for <i>The Divine Comedy</i>, hence Nicolas's anger; Nicolas is also angry with Dante for upbraiding him for his wickedness.
<br/>
<br/>Blake depicts the scene in a cave rather than on the open floor of the trench, emphasizing that it is a place of spiritual darkness. Dante's placing of the Pope in an upside down position to symbolise the subordination of spiritual to material values would have been readily acceptable to Blake. Burke suggests that 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/f/form" title="Glossary definition for 'Form'"><span>form</span></a> the Pope's figure takes may derive from an <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 an Egyptian acrobat (Burke 1964, pl.107; 1973, pl.100).</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: expressive adults burn cauldron cave characters crime and punishment Dante Dante, ‘Divine Comedy: Inferno’ diseases and conditions embracing emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas fire Hell Hell horror Judaeo-Christian imagery kitchen landscape literary literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) male man mythical, religious, fictional named individuals natural phenomena Nicolas III, Pope nudes objects pain people places poet pope punishment religion and belief religious simony society Virgil work and occupations