Art analysis:William Blake painting:Dante

This Painting by William Blake was done for Dante, depicting Dante’s inferno and the levels in Hell. The sinners in the nine levels/circles of Hell are guilty of one of three types of sin namely Incontinence, Brutishness & Malice/vice.

In this painting, “The Circle of the Lustful” depicts the second level in Hell, where those who sinned by excess of sexual passion, those souls who in life made pleasure their hope, with reason and love of God second, are doomed for eternity. Since this is the most natural sin and the sin most nearly associated with love, its punishment is the lightest of all to be found in Hell (Hagstrum 1999). The sinners are whirled, endlessly through the murky air, by a great gale, which is symbolic of their lust.

The punishment for the Lustful is an infernal storm that lashes at them in darkness with rage and punishment, spinning through the air. The Lustful are mostly blown about in pairs, but this is not always so. They cry out lamentations and insults to God as they go. All the great lovers are there - Semiramis, Cleopatra, Helen, Achilles, Paris & Tristan to name but a view.

Standing on the ground are unsuccessful love

This painting can be seen as a negative romantic painting in the sense that there’s strong tension, gruesome suffering, struggle against fate, nature as the enemy and man as insignificant to nature (Klonk 1996). There’s a mystical and sublime quality to this painting. The Romantic love is intense, burning, all consuming love, for which they are willing to die. They see love as the meaning to transcendentalism (Hagstrum 1999). Those who sinned here are those who embraced unrequited love and were willing to die for it.

Praz, M.1933. The Romantic Agony. Oxford: Oxford U P

Some topics in this essay:
Dante God, Love Blake, Paris Tristan, Hell Hagstrum, Notice Virgil’s, Circle Lustful”, Damned Lie, Circle Lustful, Lustful” Nature, Rimini Francesca, hagstrum 1999, love lust, praz 1933, dante’s inferno, level hell, willing die, william blake, klonk 1996, lust praz 1933, god painting, circle lustful”, “the circle lustful”, willing die love, love willing die, artwork circle lustful,