by : William-Adolphe Bouguereau / location : Private collection / Year : 1850 / Oil on canvas

Original size: 281.0 x 225.0 cms

Alternative title: Dante et Virgile au Enfers - Signed and dated lower right

Like many artists of his time, Bouguereau had an obvious fascination with the natural human form. As a result, many of his paintings are secular and some are downright sexual (more on this later). However, images of nude females and males often inspire moods other than that of the erotic. In this intense painting, inspired by a scene from Dante Alighieri's "The Divine Comedy", Dante and the poet Virgil stand in the background while the foreground is dominated by the twisted, naked forms of two inhabitants of Hell.

The overall atmosphere here seems to me to be one which accentuates the weakness of mortal flesh. The word naked literally means "unprotected", and it seemed to be a popular technique among artists in Bouguereau's day (and indeed, for centuries before) to portray the damned as naked and thereby helpless.

Bouguereau's masterpiece of dynamic composition, a scene from 'Dante's Inferno.' In the Fifth Circle of Hell, on the banks of the River Styx, those damned for the sin of wrath fight each other through eternity, while the sullen and slothful languish helplessly.

Dante and his guide through Hell, the ghost of the poet Virgil, observe from the left, while a demonic angel watches over all. Note the striking similarity of the demon's appearance to the concept of Vlad's bat-like form in Francis Ford Coppola's 'Bram Stoker's Dracula.'