Celebrated around the world as a literary monument, The Divine Comedy, completed in 1321 and written by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), is widely considered the greatest work ever composed in the Italian language. The epic poem describes Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, representing, on a deeper level, the soul’s path towards salvation.
In the last few years of his life, Romantic poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827) produced 102 illustrations for Dante’s masterwork, from pencil sketches to finished watercolors. Like Dante’s sweeping poem, Blake’s drawings range from scenes of infernal suffering to celestial light, from horrifying human disfigurement to the perfection of physical form. While faithful to the text, Blake also brought his own perspective to some of Dante’s central themes.
Today, Blake’s illustrations, left in various stages of completion at the time of his death, are dispersed among seven different institutions. This TASCHEN edition brings these works together again, alongside key excerpts from Dante’s masterpiece. Two introductory essays consider Dante and Blake, as well as other major artists who have been inspired by The Divine Comedy, including Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Dorè, and Auguste Rodin.
With a close reading of Blake’s illustrations, and many close-ups to allow the most delicate of details to dazzle, this is a breathtaking encounter with two of the finest artistic talents in history, as well as with such universal themes as love, guilt, punishment, revenge, and redemption.
By:
Maria Antonietta Terzoli, Sebastian Schütze Imprint: Taschen Country of Publication: Germany Dimensions:
Height: 240mm,
Width: 170mm,
Spine: 41mm
Weight: 1.629kg ISBN:9783836568630 ISBN 10: 3836568632 Publication Date:17 December 2017 Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format:Hardback Publisher's Status: Active
Reviews for William Blake. Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’. The Complete Drawings
Produced to the highest standard in kaleidoscopic colour, this is a work to be treasured by lay readers and scholars alike.