Dante's Inferno: The Third Circle of Hell (Gluttons)
Artist
Gustave Doré
(French, 1832-1883)
CultureFrench
Date1861
MediumBlack and gray wash on paper
DimensionsOverall: 30 x 41 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (76.2 x 105.4 x 6.4 cm)
InscribedSigned and inscribed by the artist at the lower center: G. A. Sala/homage affectueux/G. Doré.
Credit LineMuseum purchase, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Art Purchase Fund
Object number2008.10
Not on view
DescriptionThe drawing is executed in brush with black and grey wash, and heightened with gouache. Doré's subject was inspired by Dante's _Inferno_ and depicts the Third Circle of Hell, which as Dante relates, was reserved for those who were gluttons in life.Label TextGustave Doré French, 1832–1883 Dante’s Inferno: The Third Circle of Hell (Gluttons), 1861 Black and grey wash on paper The Inferno, Dante Alighieri’s poetic odyssey through the Circles of Hell, served as an inexhaustible source of darkly dramatic scenes for Romantic artists like Gustave Doré. Dante’s Third Circle was reserved for those who committed the sin of gluttony in life and were condemned to eternal suffering in a barren wasteland of freezing rain and snow. In Dore’s drawing, Dante and his guide, the poet Virgil, survey the grisly scene—a ghostly moonscape where the undead writhe in perpetual pain. Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Art Purchase Fund 2008.10 ProvenanceGift of the artist, collection of George Augustus Henry Sala (1828-1895), London; Sir Bruce Stirling Ingram (1877-1963), London (Lugt 1405a); Madame G. C. Prost, until 1969; P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., London, 1970; Private collection, New York, since 1970; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Museum purchase, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Art Purchase Fund, 2008. Exhibition History"Exhibition of Nineteenth Century Drawings by European Artists," P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, April 7-24, 1970, no. 31. Published References_Exhibition of Nineteenth Century Drawings by European Artists_, exhib. cat., P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, April 7-24, 1970, no. 31.
