The most beautiful images of the Divine Comedy on display in Naples at the BIBLIOTECA NAZIONALE “VITTORIO EMANUELE III” from Sunday 26 September (2021 HERITAGE DAYS). A great exhibition that celebrates Dante's imagery, rich in suggestions and allegories, symbols and fantastic places, which has always attracted the interest of artists.
“The Divine Comedy in Images. Seven Hundred Years of Dante Iconography” is the title of the exhibition that documents, in a comprehensive but synthetic way, the different moments of the figurative tradition of the Divine Comedy from the 1757th to the present day. A journey full of seductions that accompanies the visitor from the naive miniatures of the first medieval codices, to the accurate drawings of the 1758th century, and of the first printed editions, to the most famous illustrations such as the precious edition by Antonio Zatta (Venice, 1861 -XNUMX Dedicated to the Sacred Imperial Majesty of Elizabeth Petrovna Empress of all the Russias), the Dante Atlas by John Flaxman, the illustrations by Francesco Scaramuzza and the most famous ones by Gustave Doré (Paris, Hachette XNUMX).
“The important and extensive presence of Alighieri's works in the Library's collections - says the director of the National Library of Naples, Salvatore Buonomo - allows us to offer a systematic review of the iconography of the Divine Comedy and to follow its evolution. The splendid manuscripts from the second half of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries testify to the commitment and accuracy that the illustrators have dedicated from the very beginning to illustrating the Comedy on a par with sacred texts. Dante's figurative tradition develops and fits in completely autonomously within the artistic currents and taste of the moment, becoming a true form of expression of Dante's poetic and metaphorical message."
Among the splendid illuminated manuscripts on display, the oldest, almost contemporary with the Divine Comedy, dating back to the second half of the fourteenth century, presents seventy-six pen drawings, sometimes lightly colored in red, attributable to the figurative culture of the period in Umbria. Another richly illuminated codex from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century comes from the collection of the doctor and bibliophile Domenico Cotugno, and contains Dante's poem with the commentary by Francesco da Buti that frames the text. The manuscript dated 300 with illuminated initials belongs to the Farnese collection: the one at the beginning of Purgatory, depicting Dante and Virgil dominated by the souls in Purgatory, is significant.
“Illustrating the Divine Comedy has always been a difficult task that in every era has been attempted by artists of great fame, from Sandro Botticelli to Salvatore Dalì,” adds the director of the National Library of Naples, Salvatore Buonomo, “but the exhibition combines the scenographic magnetism with the emotion of offering original and exclusive autographs that document the interest in Alighieri's work by authors such as Leopardi and De Sanctis.”
On display are some autographed pages from Giacomo Leopardi's Zibaldone and the song Sopra il monumento di Dante with notes written by the poet.
Among the rarities on display are the copper plates by Giovan Giacomo Machiavelli, the original drawings made by Machiavelli between 1806 and 1807, which accompany the edition of the Comedy edited by Filippo Machiavelli, which appeared in Bologna by Gamberini and Parmeggiani between 1819 and 1821 with the engraver's 101 plates.
EDITORIAL TEAM
Choose the social channel you want to subscribe to