This piece is entitled "The Barque of Dante" and was the first piece done by the French artist Eugene Delacroix. It currently resides in the Louvre in Paris and was installed there in 1822. The painting is based upon canto eight of Dante's Inferno, which describes the journey across the river Styx. In the background the City of the Dead can be seen shrouded in mist and smoke. In the foreground Dante is wearing a red scarf and seems afraid of what they will encounter. He also seems fearful of the figures in the water. Virgil is steadying him and seems to be very calm and collected. In the water lie tormented souls damned to guard hell from those crossing the Styx.
What drew me to this artwork was that it is actually the inspiration for another piece I was looking at (The Gates of Hell), and I wanted to see how they related. I also have been looking at the Neo-Classical and Romantic paintings done on hell and/or based on Dante's Inferno and this is one of the few that is this close to the protagonist. Here you can connect with Dante and see the emotion he is projected, whereas in others the focus was more on the enormity, awe, chaos, and fear that was hell.
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