Research

 Pieces of art that particularly interest me pt2

The second piece of art that particularly interests me is Dante and Virgil in Hell, an oil painting on canvas created by William-adolph Bouguereau. Bouguereau created this neoclassical academic painting in 1850 with the intention for it to win the prix du Rome, this was a kind of French scholarship at the time that would allow you to go to Rome to learn from the masters. This painting did not win the prix du Rome, but is now displayed in the Musée D’Orsay; however this artist did later go on to win the prix du Rome with a different painting. 

This painting caught my eye as it is inspired by poetry, by chance it is a piece of work that i am also currently reading, Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. This depicts one man’s horrifying journey through the rings of hell guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. Bouguereau has taken the scene from the eighth ring of hell, the ring or fraud, home to falsifiers, cheaters and such. This piece shows two fighting men in the forefront with Dante behind to the left being supported by Virgil and horrid demon like creatures and carnage to back right. 

This piece really interests me as Bouguereau has created a very good deprecation of the horror and the viciousness of the fight to the death that Dante Alighieri described in his work. However, I also see a huge juxtaposition here as Bouguereau has added such beautiful quality to his painting of this scene from this poem that really heavily influenced and reinforced the fear of hell onto the Christian population at the time, showing the horror of the the scenes described to readers. Because yes, this painting is showing the horrific demon creatures believed to be in hell and this violent fight between two infamously terrible men at the time (Gianni Schicchi- he stole a dead man’s identity to steal his inheritance, Cappocchio- an alchemist and heretic in a time a governed by strict religion and superstition) but i feel that the painter has almost rommantisised this bloody and violent fight by the way he’s painted the dammed men with muscular almost Adonis like bodies. Also his use of colour by making the foreground with the fighters light and kind of ethereal but the back ground of demons and even Dante and Virgil being very dark and gloomy. I find that this really distracts you for the viciousness of the fight but instead installs a sense of awe upon the on looker, which is just fascinating how Bouguereau has created such beauty from such horror.