Company of Thieves

Lowe’s inspiration for this work was Henry Fuseli’s ‘The Thieves Punishment’ (c.1772), and William Blake’s similar ‘The Punishment of the Thieves’ (c.1824-27) which illustrate a scene from Dante’s Inferno where thieves are eternally consumed and transformed by serpents. Lowe harmoniously combines and overlaps the compositions of these two works and includes a portion of white sophisticated attire from George Romney’s ‘A Boy, Called William Pitt’ (c.1778). This white costume presented in a hellscape can be interpreted as the personification of innocence, adolescence, or even moral superiority and righteousness. The juxtaposition of the imagery within this work intensifies the essence of its referenced parts in a dramatic contrast of anthropomorphic forms.