Which Romantic painter created 'The Barque of Dante'?

The Romantic painter who created “The Barque of Dante” was Eugène Delacroix.

Also known as “Dante and Virgil in Hell,” the painting was completed in 1822 for the Paris Salon. It depicts Dante and the ancient poet Virgil crossing the River Styx, guided by Phlegyas, while tormented souls cling to the boat in the infernal waters described in Dante’s “Inferno.”

The work was Delacroix’s first major painting and helped announce a shift in French art from the controlled ideals of Neoclassicism toward the emotional intensity of Romanticism. Its dramatic color, turbulent movement, theatrical lighting, and disturbing subject made it a striking Salon debut. The painting is now in the Louvre.

William Blake also illustrated Dante, and J.M.W. Turner was another major Romantic artist, but neither created this painting. Théodore Géricault influenced Delacroix and shared the movement’s dramatic energy, yet he was not the artist responsible for “The Barque of Dante.”