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Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Past Exhibition

April 9 – July 16, 2023
West Building, Main Floor, Gallery 10–11

Florentine poet, writer and philosopher Dante Alighieri’s (1265-1321) Divine Comedy called Commedia in Italian, was written in the Florentine vernacular that formed the basis for the modern Italian language. It describes Dante’s journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio) and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the ancient Roman poet Virgil, and then his beloved Beatrice. In the more than 700 years since it was written, the Divine Comedy has remained one of the most influential works of Western literature.

Going through Hell: The Divine Dante explores the influence of this seminal manuscript in some 20 works all from the National Gallery’s collection. Beginning with the 16th century painted Allegorical Portrait of Dante these range from rare early printed editions of the Divine Comedy to sculptures by Auguste Rodin created initially for his monumental project The Gates of Hell, to works on paper from the 15th to 20th century, from William Blake to Robert Rauschenberg.

Explore Selected Works

A pale-skinned man sits, holding an open book next to his lap so the pages face us in this square painting. His body is angled to our right, and he turns his head farther in that direction, so his face is in profile. He has heavy brows, high cheekbones, and a prominent, hooked nose. His lower lip projects beyond his thin upper lip, and his chin juts out. He is lit from our right, so the hollows of his cheeks are in shadow. A vivid red cap encircled by a wreath of laurel leaves covers his dark hair. His long, cranberry-red robe splits over the shoulders to show navy-blue sleeves. His left hand, farther from us, braces the top of the open book, which comes up to chest height. A poem written in verses of three lines each in Italian can be read on both pages. The man’s other hand is lifted and hovers, palm down, over a miniature skyline by his side. The buildings there include a dome with a pointed lantern and two towers. A lighter tan area in the lower left corner, beneath the skyline, is difficult to interpret. The man sits on a grassy outcropping, which is mostly lost in the shadows. A body of blue water stretches into the distance beyond the outcropping to meet a conical mountain layered like a cake with ten sections. Trees grow on the narrowest, topmost level, and flames line the second level. A boat, tiny in scale, sails across the water near a grassy, zigzagging shore in the distance. Light from the upper right creates a creamy yellow beam across the otherwise darkened sky.
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Florentine 16th Century, Allegorical Portrait of Dante, late 16th century, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.57
This free-standing bronze sculpture shows a nude, muscular man sitting on a rock and resting his chin on the back of his right hand, with that elbow propped on his left knee. In this photograph, the man’s body is angled slightly to our left. He hunches a bit as his body twists so his right elbow, on our left, reaches the opposite knee. His other rests along his leg so the hand dangles beyond the knee. The man has short-cropped hair, a furrowed brow, an angular nose, and lines around his mouth and eyes. The foot on our right rests higher on the rock so that knee juts up a little higher than the other. The bronze has a greenish patina, especially noticeable along the top of the man’s head and shoulders and the front of his lower legs.
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Auguste Rodin, The Thinker (Le Penseur), model 1880, cast 1901, bronze, Gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson, 1942.5.12
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Robert Rauschenberg, Drawings for Dante's 700 Birthday, II.B, 1965, graphite, watercolor, and gouache with screenprint on two panels of Strathmore illustration board, Gift of the Woodward Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1976.56.137
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Gy Szabo Bela, Dante: L'enfer, Chant XXI, Ongles sales (Dante's Inferno, Canto XXI, Nasty Claws), 1963, hand printed wood engraving on Japanese paper, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Le Bovit, 1968.22.6
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Jean-Jacques Feuchère, Dante Meditating on the "Divine Comedy", 1843, pen and brown ink with brown wash and watercolor over graphite, heightened with white gouache, on 3 joined sheets of laid paper, Gift of the Christian Humann Foundation, 1996.128.14
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Florentine 15th Century, Dante before the Mountain of Purgatory [reverse], late 15th century, bronze//Molded frame, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1957.14.893.b
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Joseph Anton Koch, Dante and Virgil Riding on the Back of Geryon, c. 1821, pen and black ink over graphite on laid paper, fragments of graphite borderlines at top, left, and bottom, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2007.111.113
A man and woman embrace and kiss while sitting on a rocky formation in this free-standing bronze sculpture. Both people are nude, and they turn toward each other. In this photograph, to our right, the slender woman reaches her left arm, closer to us, up to wrap around the man’s neck. Her left breast is silhouetted against the man’s muscular chest. The woman’s raised arm covers most of their faces but the man turns his head down to meet hers. The man rests his right hand, closer to us, on her hip and she hooks one leg over his. His knees are angled to our left and he turns his torso toward her. The woman’s left toes brush his foot, just below hers. They sit on a textured, rock-like form. The surface of sculpture has a golden-brown patina, which darkens where the bodies fold and crease. The artist’s name is stamped into the seat, just below the woman’s hip: “RODIN.”
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Auguste Rodin, The Kiss (Le Baiser), model 1880-1887, cast c. 1898/1902, bronze, Gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson, 1942.5.15
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

William Etty, Scene from the Inferno (canto IX), pen and black ink with gray wash, Julius S. Held Collection, 1985.1.31
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Bartolomeo Pinelli, Dante Flees the Wild Beasts and Meets Virgil, 1824, graphite on laid paper, mounted on nineteenth-century album sheet, Gift of Alexandra Baer, 2007.149.1
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Florentine 15th Century, Dante Alighieri, Florentine Poet, 1265-1321 [obverse], late 15th century, bronze//Molded frame, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1957.14.893.a
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

William Blake, The Circle of the Lustful: Paolo and Francesca, 1827, engraving, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.5395
Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Italian 15th Century, The Inferno, after the Fresco in the Camposanto of Pisa, c. 1480/1500, engraving, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.184

Dive Deeper

Going through Hell? See Dante’s “The Divine Comedy” in Art

Travel with artists through Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell.

A Poem of Exile on Dante Day

A look at the writer, poet, and father of the modern Italian language.

Events

Sunday, June 4, 12:00 p.m.

Through the Gates of Hell: Dante and Auguste Rodin

Hybrid Event: Registration Required

Join senior lecturer David Gariff for a talk exploring the impact of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy on the art and thought of French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Friday, June 16, 1:00 p.m.

Dante: A Poem and Its Afterlife

In-Person Event

Join us in our Going through Hell: The Divine Dante exhibition for a conversation with Professor Deborah Parker.

Organization
Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington

The exhibition is curated by Gretchen Hirschauer, curator of Italian and Spanish paintings, National Gallery of Art.

Passes
Admission is always free and passes are not required

Banner detail: Florentine 16th Century, Allegorical Portrait of Dante, late 16th century, oil on panel, overall: 126.9 x 120 cm (49 15/16 x 47 1/4 in.), framed: 165.7 x 158.8 x 8.3 cm (65 1/4 x 62 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.), National Gallery of Art, Washington, Samuel H. Kress Collection