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William Blake. Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’. The Complete Drawings

40Edition: EnglishAvailability: In Stock
Discover William Blake’s complete 102 illustrations for The Divine Comedy, with excerpts from Dante’s epic poem. Featuring an intimate reading of Blake’s extraordinary works and many close-up details, 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.
Hardcover6.7 x 9.4 in.3.59 lb464 pages

“A work of devilish beauty.”

Grazia
“Produced to the highest standard in kaleidoscopic colour, this is a work to be treasured by lay readers and scholars alike.”
The World of Interiors

“…an invaluable resource and a lovely book to spend quality time with.”

Dublin Review of Books
William Blake. Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’. The Complete Drawings

William Blake. Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’. The Complete Drawings

40

Imagination Ablaze

William Blake’s spectacular illustrations for “The Divine Comedy”

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 Doré, and Auguste Rodin.

With an intimate 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.
The authors

After studying in Pavia, Bologna, and Geneva, Maria Antonietta Terzoli taught at the universities of Geneva and Zurich. Since 1991 she has been a professor at the University of Basel, where she is head of the department of Italian Studies. A philologist and interpreter of literary text, she specializes in Italian literature.

Sebastian Schütze was a longtime research fellow at the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max Planck Institute for Art History) in Rome. He is a member of the academic board of the Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici in Naples, and a member of the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. From 2003 to 2009 he held the Bader Chair in Southern Baroque Art at Queen’s University in Kingston. In 2009 he was appointed professor of early modern art history at Vienna University.

William Blake. Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’. The Complete Drawings
Hardcover17 x 24 cm1.63 kg464 pages

ISBN 978-3-8365-6863-0

Edition: English
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5

/5

27 Ratings

Beautiful book

Jason,October 30, 2021
Delivery was timely, and the book is gorgeous.

For Dante and Blake Fans!

Owain,October 28, 2021
Another well crafted and presented work from TASCHEN. Excellent reproductions of Blake's illustrations along with overviews of each plate within the context of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Plus qu'un bel objet

Raoul,October 28, 2021
Très bel ouvrage, regroupant un des plus beau texte Italien, référence dans sa forme et son sujet, illustré "Divinement".

Dante in a different persepctive

Bart,October 27, 2021
I knew about Dante's Divine Comedy (I am currently reading it) but was pleasantly surprised at the drawings from William Blake. The combination of the drawings and the explanations is really ideal. This book is also very affordable !

Amazing

Lilian-Maria,October 27, 2021
Wonderful book : beautiful colors, we can feel all the faith and mysticism of Blake in these paintings. Perfect combination with Dante's book text explanation