# Dante and Virgil on the Ice of Kocythos

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/dante-and-virgil-on-the-ice-of-kocythos-r4c47e062ea94f3>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [FUSELI, John Henry](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300>)
- Date: 1751-1800
- Technique: Pen and sepia, watercolour, 390 x 274 mm

## Commentary

One of the most brilliant artistic figure of the time was the Swiss painter, Fuseli, who lived in England. He mixed Neoclassicist and Romantic elements in an art influenced by antique sculpture and the works of Michelangelo. Fuseli depicted contorted bodies order to generate tension and pathos, to captivate the viewer&#39;s emotions and convey the terrors of the sublime. The Inferno in Dante&#39;s Divine Comedy, which was &#34;rediscovered&#34; in the mid-18th century, was especially suited to his purpose. Dante was seen as the very embodiment of the creative individual. The pen and ink drawing Dante and Virgil on the Ice of Kocythos shows the poet standing amongst the heads of those who have been frozen into the sea of ice which fills the crater of hell. &lt;P&gt; &lt;TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR=&#34;\#99CCCC&#34;&gt; &lt;TR VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt;&lt;TD&gt;&lt;IMG SRC=&#34;/support/gif/listen.gif&#34; BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt; Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 16 minutes\):&lt;BR&gt;&lt;A HREF=&#34;\#&#34; onClick=&#34;w=window.open \(&#39;/music1/19\_cent/liszt\_dante.html&#39;, &#39;newWin&#39;, &#39;scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350&#39;\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true&#34;&gt;&lt;B&gt;Franz Liszt: Dante-sonata&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;/TD&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;/TABLE&gt;

## Related artworks

- [Adam and Eve](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/adam-and-eve-r67ec62782d527e>)
- [Brunhilde Observing Gunther, Whom She Has Tied to the Ceiling](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/brunhilde-observing-gunther-whom-she-has-tied-to-the-ceiling-r478f1dd80b1642>)
- [Courtesan](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/courtesan-r27bf09ac33fa99>)
- [Ezzelin and Meduna](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/ezzelin-and-meduna-r85cc511807026a>)
- [Gertrude, Hamlet and the Ghost of Hamlet&#39;s Father](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/gertrude-hamlet-and-the-ghost-of-hamlets-father-re120804052024a>)
- [Lady Macbeth](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/lady-macbeth-rb6ffa44a96093e>)
- [Lady Macbeth with the Daggers](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/lady-macbeth-with-the-daggers-rfbef91251b4b8b>)
- [Leonore Discovering the Dagger Left by Alonzo](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/leonore-discovering-the-dagger-left-by-alonzo-r338e5c84db32d8>)
- [Portrait of a Young Woman](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/portrait-of-a-young-woman-r27bec1327e907d>)
- [Self-Portrait](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/self-portrait-rbb1798153b69df>)
- [Silence](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/silence-r53c07e7e76852c>)
- [Symplegma of a Man with Three Women](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/fuseli-john-henry-rf473b4aa66a300/symplegma-of-a-man-with-three-women-r7e6ba1099d89b2>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)