How did Michelangelo and Rubens influence Dante and Virgil in Hell?

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Eugène Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People — Eugène Delacroix *Liberty Leading the People*, oil on canvas by Eugène Delacroix, 1830; in the Louvre, Paris.

In his 1822 masterpiece Dante and Virgil in Hell, Eugène Delacroix drew upon the artistic legacies of Michelangelo and Peter Paul Rubens to define his mature style.

The painting’s influence from these masters is evident in two distinct ways:

Michelangelo: The work reflects the influence of the Italian Renaissance master through its tragic emotional tone and the powerful, muscular modeling of its figures.1
Peter Paul Rubens: The painting’s rich, vibrant use of colour is attributed to the influence of the Flemish Baroque painter.1

While the subject matter was inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, these stylistic borrowings helped establish the painting as a landmark in the development of 19th-century French Romanticism.1