Behold Your Heart: Dante Biennial 2024

BEHOLD YOUR HEART

Emma HAWORTH

John HOLCOMB

Henry HOLIDAY

Alice MACDONALD

Barbara MACFARLANE

Sidney NOLAN

Tom PHILLIPS

Edward RUSCHA

Phil SHAW

Hepzibah SWINFORD

Tobias TILL

vide cor tuum | behold your heart

Dante Alighieri, La Vita Nuova, 1294

Few writers have had such a profound influence upon Western visual culture as the Florentine poet and visionary storyteller Dante Alighieri.

His epic narrative poem, The Divine Comedy, has inspired artists almost since the time of its completion in 1320: from Giovanni di Paolo and Sandro Botticelli, through William Blake and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, to Robert Rauschenburg and Sidney Nolan.

Dante’s life, with its record of passion and love for his ideal Beatrice, and its travails of injustice and exile, has also proved a rich source of images; and his distinctive profile has been recorded by artists from Giotto to Tom Phillips and beyond.

His life and writings continue to influence artists to this day.

Following our exhibition Inferno in 2022, the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery has introduced a Dante Biennial to celebrate the continuing dialogue between contemporary artists and the writings of the Florentine poet.

Behold your heart brings together works inspired by two of Dante’s poems: La Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy. The exhibition includes works by Emma Haworth, Henry Holiday, John Holcomb, Barbara Macfarlane, Alice Macdonald, Sidney Nolan, Tom Philips, Ed Ruscha, Phil Shaw, Hepzibah Swinford, and Tobias Till.

La Vita Nuova

Amore segnoreggiò la mia anima

Love quite governed my soul

(Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1899)

John Holcomb

Pink Dante, Lavender Dante, 2024

acrylic and oil pastel on canvas

127

Inferno Canto IV, l. 151

E vegno in parte ove non è che luca (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1872)

And to a place I come where nothing shines

Edward Ruscha Inferno, 2024 postcard 15 x 21 cm

Inferno Canto III, l. 9

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate'

All hope abandon ye who enter here

(Henry Francis Cary, 1814)

Alice Macdonald

They Walk to the Gate of Hell, 2024 watercolour, acrylic and gold paint on paper 19 x 28 cm

Alice Macdonald

2024, watercolour, acrylic and gold paint on paper

Alice Macdonald

2024, watercolour, acrylic and gold paint on paper

Inferno

Canto XXVIII, ll. 49-50 a me, che morto son, convien menarlo per lo 'nferno qua giù di giro in giro

by me, a ghost, ’tis doomed he should be led down the Infernal circles, round on round

(James Romanes Sibbald, 1884)

117 x 117 cm

Barbara Macfarlane

Centro de la Terra, 2024 ink and oil on Khadi paper

Inferno

Canto XXIV, ll. 91-93

Tra questa cruda e tristissima copia corrëan genti nude e spaventate, sanza sperar pertugio o elitropia:

Among this cruel and most dismal throng people were running naked and affrighted without the hope of hole or heliotrope

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1872)

Emma Haworth Inferno, 2014 watercolour on paper

Inferno

Canto VI, ll. 19-21

Urlar li fa la pioggia come cani; de l’un de’ lati fanno a l’altro schermo; volgonsi spesso i miseri profani

Beat by the rain these, dog-like, yelp and shout, and shield themselves in turn with either side; and oft the wretched sinners turn about

(James Romanes Sibbald, 1884)

Sidney Nolan

Inferno VI, 1967 screenprint

Inferno

Canto VII, ll. 19-21

Ahi giustizia di Dio! tante chi stipa nove travaglie e pene quant’ io viddi? e perché nostra colpa sì ne scipa?

Almighty Justice! in what store thou heap’st new pains, new troubles, as I here beheld! wherefore doth fault of ours bring us to this?

(Henry Francis Cary, 1814)

Sidney Nolan

Inferno II, III, VII, VIII, 1967

La Vita Nuova

e passando per una via, volse li occhi verso quella parte ov'io era molto pauroso

(Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1899)

La Vita Nuova

And passing through a street, she turned her eyes thither where I stood sorely abashed

(Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1899)

John Holcomb

Beatrice & Dante, 2024

acrylic and oil pastel on canvas

109

Inferno Canto XXXI, ll. 112-114

Noi procedemmo più avante allotta, e venimmo ad Anteo, che ben cinque alle, sanza la testa, uscia fuor de la grotta (James Romanes Sibbald, 1884)

Then did we somewhat further on proceed, reaching Antæus who for good five ell, his head not counted, from the pit was freed

Phil Shaw

The Divine Comedy, 2022

eight colour pigment based archival print on Hahnemuhle paper

Inferno

Canto XXVI, ll. 115-117

Considerate la vostra semenza:

fatti non foste a viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza

Call to mind from whence we sprang:

ye were not form’d to live the life of brutes but virtue to pursue and knowledge high

(Henry Francis Cary, 1814)

Phil Shaw

The Divine Comedy, 2022

eight colour pigment based archival print on Hahnemuhle paper

161 x 116 cm

Tobias Till

Inferno, 2017

7 colour silkscreen print with 23 Carat red Gold Leaf

Tobias Till

Paradiso, 2018

7 colour silkscreen print with 23 Carat Gold Leaf

Hepzibah Swinford

Beatrice Entering the Heavenly Realms, 2023 oil on board

that she hath gone to Heaven suddenly, and hath left Love below, to mourn with me

La Vita Nuova che si n'è gita in ciel subitamente, e ha lasciato Amor meco dolente (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1889)

Editions used

Dante Alighieri: Cary, Henry Francis. The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. London: J. Barfield, 1814.

Dante Alighieri: Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. The New Life (La Vita Nuova). London: Ellis and Elvey, 1899.

Dante Alighieri: Longfellow, Herny Wadsworth. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867.

Dante Alighieri: Sibbald, James Romanes. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno. Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1884.