Tracings of illustrations by William Blake for Dante's Divina Commedia.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of a series of tracings made by John Linnell of 99 of the 102 drawings he commissioned from William Blake to illustrate Dante's Divina Commedia. Blake created his ink and watercolor drawings between 1824 and his death in 1827, and Linnell made his tracings in January and February 1831. The drawings are iron-gall ink on tracing paper, measure 44.6 x 56.2 cm and smaller, and are mounted on sheets of heavy paper measuring 61 x 48 cm. Most of the drawings have canto numbers from Dante's poem.
References given after drawing titles are to Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, by Martin Butlin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981). Missing from the set are tracings of Blake's images number 12, "First Version of Cerberus" (Butlin 812.12), number 15, "The Goddess of Fortune" (Butlin 812.16), and number 50, "The Punishment of the Thieves" (Butlin 812.102).
Dates
- 1831
Creator
- Linnell, John, 1792-1882 (Artist)
Conditions Governing Access
Restricted fragile material. For further information consult the appropriate curator.
Existence and Location of Copies
The entire collection is available in digital form.
Conditions Governing Use
The John Linnell Tracings of Illustrations by William Blake for Dante's Divina Commedia is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Jared Eliot Associates, 1939.
Arrangement
Organized into three series: I. Hell, 1831. II. Purgatory, 1831. III. Paradise, 1831.
Extent
99 drawings (in 25 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The collection consists of a series of tracings by John Linnell of 99 of the 102 drawings made by William Blake to illustrate Dante's Divina Commedia.
Biographical / Historical
John Linnell (1792-1882), English painter and engraver.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
- Artists -- Great Britain -- 19th century
- Artists -- Great Britain -- 19th century
- Blake, William, 1757-1827
- Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 (Divina commedia, Illustrations)
- Drawings (visual works) -- England -- 19th century
- Illustration of books -- 19th century
- Iron-gall ink -- England -- 19th century
- Linnell, John, 1792-1882
- Tracing paper -- England -- 19th century
- Tracings (drawings) -- England -- 19th century
- Title
- John Linnell, Tracings of Illustrations by William Blake for Dante's Divina Commedia.
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Beinecke Staff
- Date
- 2016
- Description rules
- Dcrm(G)
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
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