Probably the most famous and recognizable painting by the French artist Ferdinand Eugène Delacroix is Liberty Leading the People (1830), which depicts Marianne, who has become a symbol of the French Republic. This is a work of a well-known master with extensive experience, one of the first significant works was Dante's Boat, also known as Dante and Virgil in Hell.
The artist turned to the plot of the "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri, namely to one of the fragments of "Hell", the first part of the poem. Dante and his guide, the ancient Roman poet Virgil, cross the river Styx. During the journey, they are attacked by souls who are trying to get into the boat. Frightened, Dante loses his balance, and Virgil holds his hand. Behind the poets stands the half-naked figure of Phlegius: the boatman is trying to keep control in his hands in order to continue the journey. Delacroix's sinners are exhausted, struggling to climb aboard and escape their misery.
Delacroix wrote Dante's Lady in 1822 at the age of 24. He presented the canvas at the Paris Salon, where he attracted the attention of the public and critics. Although the work received mixed reviews, the French government decided to buy the painting, which is now kept in the Louvre.
The work combines elements of neoclassicism and romanticism. Delacroix rationally arranged the figures, starting from a vertical axis (Virgil in the center) and a horizontal one (a boat in the waters of the Styx). At the same time, he put strong emotions into most of the characters: only Virgil seems calm, the rest show genuine feelings - fear, despair, anger. And all this in the midst of a raging nature, an unstoppable wind drives waves and clouds. True, Delacroix himself admitted that when he returned to Dante's Boat again as a spectator, he discovered a lack of energy.
