The Barque of Dante
Eugène Delacroix
1822
The Barque of Dante, also known as Dante and Virgil, is an 1822 oil painting by the French artist Eugène Delacroix, now in the Louvre. The painting is based on Canto VIII of Dante Alighieri's poem Inferno, depicting Dante and his companion Virgil crossing the river Styx on Phlegyas's boat, onto which damned souls cling.
The Barque of Dante was Delacroix's first publicly exhibited picture, and his first entry to the Paris Salon. Delacroix had long been interested in the works of Dante, and had previously created an illustration depicting the same scene that would be used in The Barque of Dante.
Musée du Louvre, Paris · Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Text: Wikipedia (adapted), CC BY-SA 4.0 · Read more: collections.louvre.fr
