on aesthetic, philosophical and literary questions written in the spirit of allegorical scholasticism.
After the death of Beatrice Dante, sung in The New Life, in order to join philosophy, “he began to go where she truly imagined herself, namely, to monastic schools and to debates of philosophists” (“Feast”).
During the years of wandering around Italy, Dante became the "poet of Justice" ("On the Eloquence of the People", II, II, 9). For changing " sweet new style"A style came that Dante himself would call "beautiful" (lo bello stile) and which a number of researchers tried to identify with Gothic. Dante erected his “beautiful style” to the creator of the Aeneid, Virgil (“Hell”, I, 87). "Beautiful style" paved the way for the national style renaissance- Renaissance style.
Portrait of Dante. Artist Sandro Botticelli. 1495
The change in styles reflected a change in Dante's worldview.
In The Feast (between 1304 and 1307) politics is intertwined not only with ethics, but also with a deep analysis of the essence of poetics and linguistics.
Dante was going to write 14 allegorical canzones and philosophical treatises for The Feast, but in fact he created only three commentary treatises and three canzones (two of them were written back in Florence). Dante prefaced the book with a treatise-introduction, in which he explained why the Feast, in violation of the then prevailing traditions, was written not in Latin, but in the vernacular.
The introduction to the "Feast" forms a treatise "On Popular Eloquence", where Dante developed the principles of a nationwide Italian literary language and put forward a number of bold ideas, in many respects anticipating the Renaissance.
Dante preaches the idea of the need to imitate "exemplary", "correct" poets. Dante almost humanistically believed in the limitlessness of creative forces. creative personality associated with the people. A grammatically organized folk language, which in the treatise "On Folk Eloquence" is declared "original" and is called "brilliant", axial, correct, courtly "Italian popular speech", was to be formed from many dialects of Italy as a result of the activities of writers. The treatise ends with a prophecy about the social and cultural role new folk language: “He will be a new light, a new sun that will rise where the usual sets; and it gives light to those who are in darkness and in darkness, since the old sun no longer shines on them ”(I, XIII, 12).
Developing literary language and forming a "beautiful style", Dante in "Feast" brought them into line with the requirements of a "noble lady", now called by him "Madonna philosophy". This is stated at the beginning of the third canzone, ideologically deep and stylistically innovative. In the canzone and the arguments that accompany it, Dante deepens and democratizes the anti-estate ideas of the “new style” about nobility as grace descending on the “well-disposed” soul to such an extent that his thoughts about the “divinity” of man begin to take on an almost humanistic meaning. Nobility, says Dante in The Feast, involves promoting the establishment of universal prosperity and social harmony on earth in the form of a new ecumenical and autocratic Rome, for “in order to eliminate internecine wars and their causes, it is necessary that the whole earth and that everything that is given to the human race , was a Monarchy, that is single state, and had one sovereign who, owning everything and not being able to desire more, would keep individual sovereigns within their possessions, so that peace reigned between them, which cities would enjoy, where neighbors would love each other, in this love everyone the house received according to its needs and that, having satisfied them, each person lived happily, for he was born for happiness ”(“ Feast ”, IV, IV, 4).
In the Feast, the idea of social world harmony and the assertion that “every person is a friend by nature to every other person” (I, I, 8) are supplemented and substantiated by the idea of the harmony of an individual, a natural, earthly person. True, spiritual nobility, according to Dante, presupposes bodily beauty, the nobility of the flesh (IV, XXV, 12-13).
An analysis of these ideas convinces us that they not only foreshadowed the world outlook Italian Renaissance, but were also prerequisites for the formation of the Renaissance style. The desire to influence wide circle readers who knew only the vernacular and were not accustomed to stereotyped book beauties, gave rise to a rationalistic clarity of style, which, for all its outward dryness, differed from the scholastic treatise in better side. "Feast" was dictated to Dante by the emerging Italian national consciousness.
These days the great Dante is seven and a half centuries old. It is believed that he was baptized on May 26, and happy birthday, even on Wikipedia, the data diverge. But the date is such that it is not a sin to celebrate longer! Anyway, Dante! The author of a book that everyone knows about, but no one has read.
Fragment of a fresco from 1450. Written 130 years after Dante's death.
"The Divine Comedy", which is really just "Comedy", and which no one has read, but everyone knows that it is about hell. Alas, the fate of the titans of the Renaissance in post-post modernity is unenviable! Everyone remembers only the name. But Dante Alighieri is indeed a titan! Created Italian literature and a few greatest works, painted heaven and hell for all mankind. He led a political struggle for power in his native Florence, and then lived in exile for a long time. created one of the most romantic stories love in human history. This is one of the main embodiments of the images of the Creator and the Exile in world culture. The person most often portrayed in laurel wreath. Therefore, it is especially interesting to see how Dante was seen in different times. A great citizen, a visionary, a lover, a lonely exile, a symbol of the country. Moreover, Dante was painted by artists no less talented than himself. Admire what a genius looks like, whose name everyone knows seven and a half centuries after birth! Happy Anniversary, Durante!
Dante on the cover of the first edition Divine Comedy».
Dante on a fresco in the Carduccio Palace (1450) in the era of "monumentalization" of the image.
Portrait by Domenico de Michelino. Fresco in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The poet against the backdrop of his native city, which he did not see, Hell, Purgatory and heaven.
Canonical portrait of Sandro Botticelli
Dante in fresco at Palazzo Giudici
Varesi. Six Tuscan Poets. Chino di Pistoia, Guittone d'Arezzo, Cavalcante, Boccaccio, Dante and Petrarch.
Death mask of Dante.
Fresco by Luca Signorelli, 1499-1502, San Brizio Chapel
In the Age of Enlightenment and Modern times, Dante was presented as a great but gloomy visionary. This is how Gustave Dore saw him, illustrating the Divine Comedy.
In the XVIII and XIX centuries artists are increasingly turning to the image of an outcast poet, misunderstood by the crowd and alone. Antonio Cotti. Dante in Verona
Dante in exile. Frederic Leighton. 1864
Domenico Petarlini. Dante in exile. Around 1860
This passion for depicting Dante in exile is not accidental. In the era, the unification of Italy is underway and the image of the great son of the nation, who does not find shelter, was relevant among Italian masters. And for the Pre-Raphaelite artists, the main thing in the image and life of Dante was his love for Beatrice.
Dante and Beatrice - John William Waterhouse
Rossetti. Beatrice, having met Dante at the wedding feast, refuses to greet him.
Henry Holiday. Meeting Dante and Beatrice.
Rosetti. Meeting Dante and Beatrice in Paradise. Well, before the guests of Florence, he appears like this.
Monument to Dante in Piazza Croce, Florence.
Reconstructed portrait of Dante compared to famous images
Anthropologists from the universities of Pisa and Bologna bit by bit collected all the evidence of the poet's appearance that has come down to our time. Drawings and engravings were used, as well as measurements and photographs of bones taken in 1921 by Professor Frasetto. Then the only time the authorities of Ravenna allowed scientists to open the grave of Dante. In the 3D computer image, a man of not at all repulsive appearance appeared. Giorgio Gruppioni, anthropologist from the University of Bologna: "Dante, of course, cannot be called handsome man, but his features are much softer than previously thought. The chin was prominent but not sharp, and the eyes were large but not protruding."
There are several portraits of Dante. This is how Dante's contemporary Giotto saw him:
This is a wall painting of the Palazzo del Podestà in Florence. Giovanni Vasari writes that Giotto "depicted, by the way, as can be seen today in the chapel of the Palazzo del Podesta in Florence, Dante Alighieri, his peer and closest friend and a poet no less famous than Giotto was famous in those days, so famous as a painter by Messer Giovanni Boccaccio in the introduction to the short story about Messer Forese da Rabatta and this very painter Giotto. In the same chapel there is a portrait, also by his own work, of Ser Brunetto Latini, Dante's teacher, and Messer Corso Donati, a great Florentine citizen of that time.
Many artists of the Italian Renaissance painted a portrait later long years since Dante's death, based on a description compiled by Giovanni Boccaccio. In 1321, when the author of the Divine Comedy died, Boccaccio was only 8 years old, and left by him in the work "Life of Dante" verbal portrait Dante, most likely, was written down from the words of people who really met with the famous poet, but cannot claim objectivity. In the 15th century, Dante depicts Andrea del Castagno (c. 1450, Florence, Uffizi Gallery):
And this is how the great Florentine Sandro Botticelli saw him (c. 1495, Geneva, private collection):
This is how he appears in Domenico di Michelino ("Dante and the Three Kingdoms", 1465, in Santa Maria del Fiore):
The images of Dante created by Raphael have been considered canonical for several centuries, in particular, one of them is minted on the reverse of 2 euro coins issued by the Italian Mint. These are the images on the Stanzas della Senyatura in the Vatican from two neighboring frescoes:
And here is the post-Phaelian Dante - Bronzino's "Allegorical Portrait of Dante" (c. 1530, Washington, National Gallery of Art):
The name of the genius poet of Italy Dante Alighieri is shrouded in a haze of mysticism and mystery. His "Divine Comedy" is the pinnacle of world literature. However, there are so many fateful events in the fate of the poet that his name has been associated more than once with unique historical sensations. The poem itself about hell and heaven is not for the faint of heart, and Dante's mysteries are for readers with a strong nervous system.
Life the greatest poet was tragic. Although his creations were recognized as great, they were not accepted by the authorities and the church. Even before the creation of the Divine Comedy, he was sentenced to exile from Florence for participating in anti-state activities (Dante at that time was in the Council of a Hundred - the city's governing body, but supported the party of the exiles), then in absentia to be burned alive. In 1311, already four years after writing "Hell", he was "forever denied amnesty", and in 1315, a year before the start of work on "Paradise", he was repeated the sentence "On Tradition death penalty with sons." In a word, the life of him and his family was full of threats and wanderings around Italy.
Ordinary Italians revered him and were afraid, believing that Dante knew evil spirit. And how else would he have created his immortal "Divine Comedy" if, supported by spirits, he himself had not looked into both heaven and hell? It must be said that the poet himself maintained his mystical reputation. Here is how another great Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio describes the meeting with Dante: “When Dante’s creations were already famous everywhere, especially that part of his comedy, which he called “Hell”, and many men and women knew the poet by appearance, he once walked down the street ... and one of the women said, lowering her voice: “Look, there a man is walking who descends into hell and returns from there when he pleases, bringing news of those who languish there!” To which the other simply replied: “You say true truth, look how his beard is curled and his face darkened from hellish flames and smoke! Dante smiled, pleased with this opinion of himself, and walked past.
S. Botticelli. Portrait of Dante. 1495On September 13 (according to other sources 14), 1321, Dante ended his mournful journey in Ravenna. He is believed to have died of malaria. His patron, the Duke of Ravenna, buried the poet in the church of San Francesco on the territory of the monastery. Traditional historiography describes that "the funeral was solemn," "with great honors." However, even after his death, the papal throne did not leave the poet alone. Already in 1329, the papal legate, Cardinal Bernardo del Poggetto, arrived in Ravenna and demanded that the monks betray the body of the apostate Dante to public burning, which was almost a sin by the standards of that time. The cardinal explained such an unusual demand by the fact that documents were found accusing the heretic of secret ties with the accursed order of the Templars.
How the monks and the Duke of Ravenna managed to hush up the accusation is unknown. Most likely, the duke simply paid off papal claims. But the monks took their own measures ...
Almost two centuries have passed, and Florence, which once expelled Dante, recognized the genius of the poet. The great sculptor Michelangelo himself procured from Pope Leo X the opportunity for the solemn transfer of Dante's remains to hometown. However, when the coffin arrived from Ravenna to Florence, it turned out that it was ... empty. Apparently, two centuries ago, prudent Franciscan monks took the ashes of the poet away from the wrath of the then pope and secretly buried him, presumably in the monastery of their order in Siena. However, when in 1519 an envoy from Florence arrived at the Franciscans of Siena, he did not find anything there either. In a word, the Florentine reburial of Dante had to be postponed. Pope Leo X was given two versions of what happened: the remains were stolen by unknown people or ... Dante himself appeared and took his ashes. Incredibly, the enlightened dad chose the second version! It can be seen that he also believed in the mystical nature of the poet Dante.
Centuries passed, and for the celebration of the 600th anniversary of the birth of the brilliant poet, it was decided to carry out the restoration of the Church of San Francesco in Ravenna. In the spring of 1865, builders broke through one of the walls and found a wooden box with a carved inscription: "Dante's bones were placed here by Antonio Santi in 1677." Who this Antonio is, whether he was related to the family of the painter Raphael (after all, he was also Santi, although he died back in 1520), is unknown, but the find became an international sensation. Dante's remains in the presence of representatives different countries moved to the mausoleum of Dante in Ravenna, where they still rest.
But if you think that the time has not come for sensation number two, then you are mistaken. True, we had to wait a long time - another half a century. In 1999 in National Library Florence, it was decided to carry out a small reconstruction. The workers, moving the racks, found among rare books that fell to the floor, an envelope with ... Dante's ashes. Yes, yes, in an envelope measuring 11.5 by 7 centimeters, there were ashes and paper in a black frame with the seals of Ravenna, confirming: "These are the ashes of Dante Alighieri." The head of the Italian Society Dante Francesco Mazzoni, who was immediately summoned (it is interesting that all those close to the poet turn out to be a kind of “Franciscans”) was horrified. However, when the mystical thrill passed, he tried to think logically: if there is an uncremated body, then where does the ashes come from ?! And where did the envelope come from in the library?! Incidentally, the workers crossed themselves superstitiously and swore that they had already sorted through this rack and there was no envelope there. Versions have already spread through the pages of world newspapers that the mystical Dante himself threw the envelope in order to joke or scare - here the versions diverged.
Dr. Francesco Mazzoni, of course, knew about the mystical glory of Dante, but nevertheless undertook own investigation. And here's what he found out. In 1865, on the 600th anniversary of the poet, the coffin with the found remains was put on public display. He stood on the carpet. After the ceremony, the sculptor Enrique Pazzi carefully rolled up the carpet, thinking that particles of dust could remain on it and it would be inappropriate to throw them at random. So the carpet was burned. The ashes were sealed in six envelopes. And on each, the venerable notary Saturnino Malagola affixed seals and inscribed without hesitation: "These are the ashes of Dante Alighieri." And what is more characteristic: after the ceremony, the envelopes were sent from Ravenna to Florence - after all, Dante was from there.
After the investigation of Dr. Mazzoni, the Italians remembered that a few years ago an envelope with the same inscription was found in the building of the Florentine Senate. True, then it was considered someone's stupid joke. So now it's up to the small - to find the remaining envelopes. And no mysticism.
However, so no? .. For some reason, Pope Leo X was sure that Dante could come from the other world? Where does he get the basis for such a stunning statement?
It turns out that back in 1322, eight months after his death, the poet did something similar. Then his family grieved greatly, because their breadwinner died suddenly, before he could send the publisher the end of the Divine Comedy - 35 songs from Paradise, for which the publisher promised to pay the family a fee. The sons eagerly searched for the manuscript, because they knew that their father had finished it. But he lived in exile and in perpetual fear of arrest. Therefore, it is not surprising that he hid the manuscript in a safe hiding place.
What happened next is one of the most mysterious stories in the art world. Here is what Dante's eldest son, Jacopo Alighieri, wrote: “Exactly eight months after the death of his father, at the end of the night, he himself appeared to me in snow-white clothes ... Then I asked ... where are the songs that we have been looking for in vain for so long? And he… took me by the hand, led me into the upper room and pointed to the wall: “Here you will find what you are looking for!”
Waking up, Jacopo rushed to the wall, threw back the mat and found a secret niche where the manuscript lay. It turns out that the great Dante was still able to come from the mountain world to ours. But if he did that once, why shouldn't he come here again? Maybe that's why Pope Leo X made such a statement at the time?..
