A Figure with Drapery, Perhaps Dante
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Bequest of George Campbell Cooper
Accession Number
1896-3-368
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
In the early 19th century, engraver Peltro Williamkins captured classical elegance in *A Figure with Drap, Perhaps Dante* (1806), a print that evokes the literary and artistic reverence for Dante Alighieri, the medieval Italian poet. Tomkins, active from 1760 to 1840, was renowned his precise reproductive engravings, often translating paintings into intricate prints that made high art accessible to wider audiences. This work, housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Smithsonian Collection reflects the Regency era's fascination with antiquity and Renaissance figures, where draped forms s...