The Divine Comedy: 1. Inferno

Rosemary Bisset (1948 - )

Hand-coloured lithograph

1977

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: Holy See
    City: Vatican City
    Place: British Embassy

    Rosemary Bisset’s prints visually complement Dante’s 'Divine Comedy' (1310–1314), a classic of world literature. Dante’s narrative poem is divided into three sections, 'Inferno', 'Purgatorio', and 'Paradiso', and charts Dante’s journey from darkness to light, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In these prints. Bisset has portrayed the circles of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, through which Dante moves. Each print is framed with two mirrors at the bottom and side, giving the impression of complete circles.

    Inferno looks like a geological cross-section, with plumes of lava rising up to the River of Blood, and an increasingly black core. Bisset’s Purgatorio, Dante’s island mountain, seems much more of a landscape, with the sea lying beyond it. Virgil leaves Dante, to be met by Beatrice, his muse, at the threshold of Paradise, which in Bisset’s interpretation, looks like a segment from a precious stone or crystal. The name of Beatrice is delicately transcribed onto this print, as are all the other names of those who inhabit Dante’s circles. Beatrice then guides Dante through ascending levels of paradise to glimpse the glory of God. 

    The 'Divine Comedy' has been the subject of artistic representation, both narrative and more abstract, for centuries. Among the artists who have illustrated the poem are Sandro Botticelli and William Blake.
  • About the artist
    Rosemary Bisset was born in Plymouth in 1948. She studied at the College of Art in Dundee and at the Royal College of Art. Her works include drawings, prints and literary illustrations after works by Dante, William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Dylan Thomas. She was awarded numerous printmaking and lithography prizes as well as travelling scholarships. She had solo shows at Queenswood Cafe, London in 2017; The Petit Coin Cafe, London in 2015, and the Barbican in 2002, among others.
  • Explore
    Places
    Subjects
    Alighieri, Dante, text-based work
    Materials & Techniques
    lithograph, hand-coloured lithograph
  • Details
    Artist
    Rosemary Bisset (1948 - )
    Title
    The Divine Comedy: 1. Inferno
    Date
    1977
    Medium
    Hand-coloured lithograph
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Whitechapel Art Gallery, October 1977
    Inscription
    bl: The Divine Comedy 1. Inferno. R. Bisset 77.
    GAC number
    13479