Dating the Dante Drawings: Rauschenberg and Method

Following on from the author's book-length study of Robert Rauschenberg's celebrated series of drawings after Dante's Inferno, this article has three distinct aims: first, and referring to several newly discovered sources, to develop a more precise account of the chronology of Rauschenberg’s project, arguing for the need to revise its current dating. Secondly, to demonstrate how such discoveries might enrich interpretations of specific drawings; and, lastly, to consider the consequences of the foregoing in relation to Rauschenberg’s working method.