Whether there is any truth to this particular legend is something that cannot be either proven or disproven, but Dante’s poetic masterpiece has certainly been the reason for countless paintings, sculptures, and illustrations to be created the world over for centuries, by artists that often possess an almost obsessive fixation with the first volume. Dante’s bleak and doleful vision of Hell has had such a profound effect on artists, that according to legend, it holds some sort of preternatural power, that those who feel compelled to create illustrations from its pages, not unlike Dante himself in the opening pages of the Inferno, often find themselves in strange and surreal situations.ĭomenico di Michelino, La commedia illumina Firenze (The Comedy Illuminating Florence), 1456, fresco, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence This especially being true of the first of its three volumes: the Inferno. Sacred and profane, visceral and enlightening, The Divine Comedy, which consists of the three parts of Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for a plethora of artists and writers since its inception. The 14th century Tuscan poet left behind an epic that would continue to fascinate and terrify readers to this very day. Last year, September 14, 2021, marked seven hundred years since Dante Alighieri laid down his pen and bid farewell to this mortal coil.
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