Dante drawings (1958–60)

This is a series of transfer drawings that illustrates the thirty-four cantos of Dante’s Inferno. Using John Ciardi’s translation of the poem, Rauschenberg worked with Dante scholar Michael Sonnabend to develop one composition for each of the thirty-four cantos. Combining his own drawings and watercolors with images transferred with a chemical solvent from glossy magazine reproductions, Rauschenberg provided a contemporary context for Dante’s poem by including such popular figures as John F. Kennedy and Adlai Stevenson.

Canto : The Dark Wood of Error, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto II: The Descent, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto III: The Vestibule of Hell, The Opportunists, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto IV: Limbo, Circle One, The Virtuous Pagans, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto V: Circle Two, The Carnal, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto VI: Circle Three, The Gluttons, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto X: Circle Six, The Heretics, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXVI: Circle Eight, Bolgia 8, The Evil Counselors, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XI: Circle Six, The Heretics, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXVII: Circle Eight, Bolgia 8, The Evil Counselors, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XII: Circle Seven, Round 1, The Violent Against Neighbors, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXVIII: Circle Eight, Bolgia 9, The Sowers of Discord: The Sowers of Religious and Political Discord Between Kinsmen, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XIII: Circle Seven, Round 2, The Violent Against Themselves, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXIX: Circle Eight, Bolgia 10, The Falsifiers: Class 1, The Alchemists, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XIV: Circle Seven, Round 3, The Violent Against God, Nature, and Art, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXX: Circle Eight, Bolgia 10, The Falsifiers: The Evil Impersonators, Counterfeiters, and False Witnesses, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XV: Circle Seven, Round 3, The Violent Against Nature, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXXI: The Central Pit of Malebolge, The Giants, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XVI: Circle Seven, Round 3, The Violent Against Nature and Art, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXXII: Circle Nine, Cocytus, Compound Fraud: Round 1, Caina, Treacherous to Kin; Round 2, Antenora, Treacherous to Country, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XVII: Circle Seven, Round 3, The Violent Against Art, The Usurers, Geryon, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXXIII: Circle Nine, Cocytus, Compound Fraud: Round 2, Antenora, Treacherous to Country; Round 3, Ptolomea, Treacherous to Guests and Hosts, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXXIII: Circle Nine, Cocytus, Compound Fraud: Round 2, Antenora, Treacherous to Country; Round 3, Ptolomea, Treacherous to Guests and Hosts, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XVIII: Circle Eight, Malebolge, The Evil Ditches, The Fraudulent and Malicious: Bolgia 1, The Panderers and Seducers; Bolgia 2, The Flatterers, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XVIII: Circle Eight, Malebolge, The Evil Ditches, The Fraudulent and Malicious: Bolgia 1, The Panderers and Seducers; Bolgia 2, The Flatterers, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXXIV: Circle Nine, Cocytus, Compound Fraud: Round 4, Judecca, Treacherous to their Masters, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XIX: Circle Eight, Bolgia 3, The Simoniacs, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XX: Circle Eight, Bolgia 4, The Fortune Tellers and Diviners, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXI: Circle Eight, Bolgia 5, The Grafters, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXII: Circle Eight, Bolgia 5, The Grafters, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto VII: Circle Four, The Hoarders and The Wasters; Circle Five, The Wrathful and The Sullen, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto XXIII: Circle Eight, Bolgia 6, The Hypocrites, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno

Canto VIII: Circle Five, The Styx, The Wrathful; Circle Six, Dis, Capital of Hell, The Fallen Angels, from the series Thirty-Four Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno