ART + CULTURE Dante 700: To Rebehold The Stars

Dante’s depiction of the afterlife in The Divine Comedy is one of the most influential pieces of literature in history. ‘Dante’s is a visual imagination’, wrote TS Eliot. ‘Dante’s attempt is to make us see what he saw’ – and the enduring power of the poet’s vivid descriptions of the soul’s journey towards God in this masterpiece has inspired some of the greatest artists from the Middle Ages to the present, including Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510), Federico Zuccari Dante (c.1540–1609) William Blake (1757–1827), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882), Paul Gustave Doré (1832–1883), Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) and Salvador Dali (1904–1989). The 700th anniversary of the poet’s death is commemorated by the Uffizi Gallery, Florence with an online exhibition of Divine Comedy drawings by the sixteenth-century distinguiwshed late Mannerist artist Federico Zuccari. He is most famous for the completion of the frescoes on the dome of the Florence Cathedral, which were left unfinished when Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) died. The drawings

‘His choice had such a great impact on writers at the time that the Tuscan dialect became the basis for modern Italian’

depicting Dante’s poem were created while he was living in Spain between 1586 and 1588. Following his death in 1609, the illustrations came into the possession of the noble Orsini family and later the Medici family. The entire collection was donated to the Uffizi Gallery in 1738, by Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici.

The high-resolution digitised images illustrate Dante’s epic poem which is split into three parts and traces a pilgrim’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The exhibition title, To Rebehold The Stars is a reference to the last line of The Inferno, the opening section of The Divine Comedy.

Zuccari employed a different technique for each canticle. His Inferno figures were drawn in red chalk against dark pencil which represents the landscape of the underworld. For Purgatorio, he changes the medium to brown ink and wash to illustrate the place where souls can repent their sins to be saved from eternal damnation. The last three cantos of Purgatorio change to red to mark the arrival of Beatrice, who takes over from Virgil to guide Dante on his passage to the kingdom of the saved. Dante had chosen the classical poet he admired most, Virgil, to guide him through the first two realms of the afterlife. For Paradiso, Zuccari combines all three mediums used in the two previous canticles, to convey the divine light where Dante finally meets God. The final canticle culminates in radiant images representing heavenly light.

A pioneer of vernacular literature, Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in Tuscan dialect instead of Latin, to make it accessible to the ordinary populace. His choice had such a great impact on writers at the time that the Tuscan dialect became the basis for modern Italian and the accepted national language, unifying the people of Italy across diverse regions and dialects. Hence the poet is known as ‘the father of the Italian language’.

Zuccari’s drawings are kept in the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints at the Uffizi Gallery and like all works on paper, are stored in a protected, thermoregulated, lightless environment. Due to their fragility, they have only been publicly displayed twice previously and then only a selection. The first time was in Florence in 1865 to mark the 600th anniversary of Dante’s birth, and the second for a specialised exhibition about Dante in Abruzzo in 1993. The drawings were originally bound in a volume, with each illustration sitting opposite the corresponding verse in Dante’s epic poem, with a brief comment by the artist himself. These texts are also included in the virtual exhibition.

above: Portrait of Dante Alighieri This drawing was made by an anonymous artist in the eighteenth century to replace the original lost title sheet of Zuccari’s volume of The Divine Comedy, which like many editions of Dante’s work in the sixteenth century opened with an effigy of the poet.

Dante is depicted showing the book of The Divine Comedy. On the left, there is a faint indication of the flames of Hell and the city of Florence with the Duomo Cathedral, while on the right the mountain of Purgatory is surrounded by the celestial light that alludes to Paradise.

opposite: Dante in Exile, 1860, Domenico Petarlini (1822-1897) Gallery Of Modern Art, Pitti Palace. Florence. Oil on Canvas Dante lived his final two decades in exile from his beloved Florence. He had been banished from the city because of his political activities. It was during this time that he wrote the Divine Comedy.

The Journey Begins

The poem consists of one hundred cantos, divided into three major sections: Purgatorio and Paradiso contain thirty-three cantos each, while Inferno has thirty-four. The opening canto of Inferno serves as an introduction to the work as a whole.

Zuccari’s drawings comprise of twenty-eight depictions of the Inferno, forty-nine of Purgatorio and eleven of Paradiso. Following is a selection from Zuccari’s collection.

Inferno, Canto I ‘In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself, in a dark wood, where the direct way was lost.’

The story begins when Dante finds himself in middle-age lost in ‘una selva oscura’ – ‘a dark wood’. This dark wood symbolises a sinful life on earth. Attempting to find his way out he is rescued by Virgil and together they begin the journey into the underworld, or the Nine Circles of Hell.

Inferno, Canto III ‘Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people.’

Virgil leads Dante through the gate of Hell, where they read the famous inscription ‘Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate’, which translates to ‘Abandon all hope, you who enter here.’ As they enter, Dante hears cries and laments in a thousand different languages of the ‘Ignavi’ – the miserable spirits of ‘those who lived with neither infamy nor praise’; those who lived their lives without making conscious moral choices; therefore, both Heaven and Hell have denied them entry.

Among the ‘Ignavi’ Dante recognises ‘him who through his cowardice the great refusal made’. This is understood to refer to Pope Celestine V who abdicated the Papacy, thereby paving the way for the election of Pope Boniface VIII, whom Dante loathed with a passion.

Inferno, Canto IX ‘Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen The three infernal Furies stained with blood, Who had the limbs of women and their mien.’

Fallen angels deny Dante and Virgil entrance to the City of Dis – lower Hell – demanding to know why one of the living dares to try to enter. Three furies appear, half woman, half serpent, and call for Medusa to come and turn Dante into stone. Virgil quickly covers Dante’s eyes so that he will not see Medusa’s head.

A messenger from Heaven arrives and demands that the gate of Dis be opened for the travellers and is promptly obeyed. Inferno Inferno, Canti XXXII-XXXIV ‘How then I became frozen and faint, do not ask, reader, for I do not write it, all words would fall far short of what it was.’

Entering the ninth and final circle of Hell, Dante and Virgil, on the left, approach Lucifer; the monster with three faces united in one head. His three mouths chew on the three supreme traitors; Judas, the betrayer of Christ, and Brutus and Cassius, the betrayers of Caesar.

The sight of Satan is so horrific that Dante freezes with fear, to the point where he almost can’t write. Dante and Virgil spent the next day ascending from Hell into Purgatory and finally emerge ‘a riveder le stelle’ – ‘to rebehold the stars’.

Purgatorio, Canto I ‘Sweet colour of the oriental sapphire, That was upgathered in the cloudless aspect Of the pure air, as far as the first circle.’

Dante and Virgil arrive on Mount Purgatory and are greeted by ‘Dolce color d’oriental zaffiro’ – ‘Sweet colour of the oriental sapphire’. The blue skies above Purgatory and the pure air refresh Dante after the darkness of Hell.

Dante casts Marcus Porcius Cato, a Roman soldier, historian and author, as the guardian of the entrance to Purgatory. Cato, who appears as an old man with a long beard and white hair, greets the poets but he is bewildered to find that Dante and Virgil have been able to leave Hell and enter Purgatory. Virgil instructs Dante to kneel down and explain to Cato that his mission has been authorised by God.

Purgatorio

Purgatorio, Canto I ‘Upon the stern stood the Celestial Pilot; Beatitude seemed written in his face, And more than a hundred spirits sat within.’

As Virgil and Dante walk along the shore a bright light comes towards them moving swiftly across the sea. Dante sees that the bright light is an angel, guiding a boat full of souls who are singing ‘In exitu Israel de Aegypto’ (Psalm 113) in unison. Virgil orders Dante to kneel and then the angel makes the sign of the cross and disappears.

The psalm’s theme of Israel’s Exodus from the oppression of the Egyptians symbolises the expectation and hope of the souls who, after purification from sin, are on their way towards freedom with God in Paradise.

Purgatorio, Canto X ‘was of white marble and adorned with carvings so accurate – not only Polycletus but even Nature, there, would feel defeated.’

Dante and Virgil reach the lower level of Purgatory, where they come to a long marble wall, carved with strikingly beautiful images. The carvings depict the positive virtue corresponding to the specific sin that’s being purged – in this case, humility in place of pride. The images include the Angel Gabriel addressing the Virgin Mary; David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant, scandalising his proud wife; and the legend of Trajan who is moved by the needs of a poor widow.

Because these carvings are created by God, they are so perfect that the work of not only Polycletus, the great classical sculptor, but also Mother Nature would ‘feel defeated’. Purgatorio, Canto XXX ‘I turned me around with admiration filled To good Virgilius, and he answered me With visage no less full of wonderment.’

Beatrice appears before Dante in a chariot drawn by a Griffin. Trembling, he turns around to tell Virgil that he recognises her, only to find his guide has disappeared. Although he lived a virtuous and good life, Virgil is a pagan soul because he was born before the birth of Christ and therefore cannot enter Heaven. This fills Dante with sadness but Beatrice tells him not to weep over Virgil’s departure. She also scolds and admonishes the pilgrim for his less than virtuous behaviour. She says that after her death Dante lapsed into moral and intellectual error. However, she was moved to intercede for him before God and ordain his journey through Hell and Purgatory. This accomplished, Dante can move on to the true Paradise –but only after he has repented for his sins.

Beatrice leads Dante to Heaven On the third and final part of his journey, having been deemed worthy, Dante passes into the realm of the saved. Beatrice serves as the virtuous paragon who will guide him on his journey through nine spheres of Heaven to the Empyrean – the Highest Heaven. They will encounter diverse souls in each sphere.

Paradiso

Paradiso, Canto III ‘As soon as I became aware of them, Esteeming them as mirrored semblances, To see of whom they were, mine eyes I turned.’

In the Heaven of the moon, Dante experiences his first encounter with a blessed soul. Although the souls in Paradise are not punished there are lower and higher heavens. The souls in the moon flicker and waver, reflecting their inconstant behaviour during life – their wills changing like the changeable moon. They are so faint that it’s like seeing images through unpolished glass. So he turns around, thinking that what he’s seeing are reflections in a mirror. But behind him there is nothing.

Paradiso, Canto XXIII – XXIV ‘And through the living light transparent shone The lucent substance so intensely clear Into my sight, that I sustained it not.’

Here Dante gets a sighting of Christ himself. Dante has to be prepared for the overpowering vision of Christ’s glorious resurrected body when he reaches the Mystic Empyrean. He describes the unbearable brightness and he does not have the power to sustain his gaze. He is blinded briefly, but when his vision returns, can now see more clearly than ever before.

The canto ends with a reference to St. Peter, ‘he who holds the keys of such glory’, who will examine Dante on the theological virtue of faith.

Paradiso, Canto XXVIII - XXIII With voice and gesture of a perfect leader She recommenced: ‘We from the greatest body Have issued to the heaven that is pure light.’

Dante and Beatrice are now reaching the end of this great voyage and leave the material realm completely to enter the Mystic Empyrean where God, the saints and the angels reside.

Beatrice speaks, telling Dante that they have reached the highest heaven, one of pure light, intellect, and love. Dante is about to experience the Beatific Vision, where he sees God directly.

In the final canto, Dante describes the vision as an experience that transcends intellect, language, and memory. It is greater than his speech can express and even his memory fails him when he thinks of it. He only remembers it as if in a dream and can only recall the sweetness of the memory.

Now, Dante prays to God to allow him to remember some of what he saw. He begs for the memory so that he can convey its glory in his poetry.