(Wikipedia)

Inspiration from The Divine Comedy has been presented in several differing art forms. The topic of my paper covers artistic developments after the creation of The Divine Comedy, focusing specifically on painters William Blake and Gustave Dore. Although both from the Romantic period of painting, Blake and Dore both expressed very different styles and themes within their works. Throughout their lives, each focused on different cantos specifically from Inferno while later progressing to Purgatorio and eventually Paradiso. Their artwork was important in illustrating the vivid imagery in Dante’s work while establishing his work as influential in providing graphic descriptions of the afterlife. I chose these painters because, throughout my investigation into The Divine Comedy, the presence of illustrations helped clarify my understanding of what I was reading. I realized that there were many painters and artists in general that were heavily inspired by Dante, but my attention was drawn to Blake for his use of expressive color and to Dore for his vivid and gruesome imagery. The contrast between the two provides an interesting source of analysis as to how people can analyze the same text through two different lenses. Many of the paintings included the descriptions present in the book and truly exemplified the heart of Dante’s work. Throughout this investigation, I find myself increasingly drawn to the interactions between different forms of arts and how they support each other, especially since the paintings were what helped me understand the text. Honestly, the paintings did change my interpretation of Dante because they made the layout of Inferno clearer and more detailed in my mind. They also helped me establish a deeper understanding of the poetry and, more specifically, of the emotions present in each scene.