Among the numerous internet resources on Dante Aligheri, this is one that might be helpful to you:
http://www.worldofdante.org/gallery_main.html
Pick a visual illustration of Canto 1 -5 (there are several) and comment on the artist ability to visualize the symbolism and the emotional intensity of the poem's beginning.
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The artist Gustave Dore painted the picture of Dante and Virgil leaving the dark woods. This picture to me gives me a very good illustration to what was happening in Canto 1. This picture gives me a vision that Dante was entering his afterlife as you see in the picture the woods look very gloomy and kind of scary almost as if it was the beginning of a path leading to the gates of Hell. I personally would not want to be part of this picture or scene. Because the pictue is so mysterious Gustave Dore does a great job showing the emotional intensity at the beginning of Canto 1. whatever Dante was going through in that beginning scene of Canto 1 was not something anyone of us has been through making it all the more mysterious.
ReplyDeleteThe power of Gustave Dore’s painting of “Dark Wood,” perfectly exemplifies the emotional intensity of the poem’s beginning. Gustave uses the trees in the painting as the main source of intensity and symbolism in his painting. The trees themselves are towering over Dante and Virgil, thus making them look miniscule and powerless. The fact that these trees have no leafs on them, make the trees have an elderly feeling to them, however, it nonetheless makes them look quite intimidating. Additionally, the fact that you can see the roots of the trees, perhaps symbolizes the roots, or underworld, that Dante is about to embark on. The fact that this painting is in black and white also helps to visualize the dark and mysterious place that Dante is about to go into. Overall, I think Gustave did a magnificent job in attempting to illustrate the intensity and power of the poem.
ReplyDeletePriamo della Quercia's creation of "The Three Beasts" beautifully illustrates the symbols of the shewolf, leopard, and the lion. It reminds me of stained glass windows that are inside churches, mainly because of the vibrant colors that were used. Quercia uses the beasts to represent the interpretation of man's sins. It can be seen as violence, fraud, or immoderate desires. Others can also see it as envy, pride, and avarice. This depiction foreshadows the journey Dante soon takes after encountering the beasts.
ReplyDeleteCan somene tell me how i can view the images cause im having a hard time finding it. I went on he web shown above but i dont see the image of Canto 1-5??
ReplyDeleteI like Alessandro Vellutello's picture "Three Beasts" because it is more lively than Sandro Botticelli's one or John Flaxman's "Dante and Virgil."
ReplyDeleteAll of three images show us Dante and Virgil are in extreme danger, but especially Alessandro's painting emphasizes their fear by drawing the three beasts jumping into them as Dante portrays in the poem that "but hope was hardly able to prevent the fear i felt when i beheld a lion."
The picture also describe details as if we see the following scene in person, "His head held high and revenous with hunger-even the air around him seemed to shudder-this lion seemed to make his way against me."
The images are a lot helpful to further understand the beginning of the poem.
I find it extremely interesting on how Flaxman, Vellutello, Botticelli, and Dore all depict hell, purgatory and paradise in similar yet different ways.
ReplyDeleteFlaxman depicts his view of Dante's Inferno through minimalistic line drawings that capture the different levels of hell and the different sins that ultimately decides whether the destination of afterlife is hell, paradise or purgatory. I found that his "embrace of the lustful" was very captivating because there is a sense of beauty within it, while showing the consequence (purgatory) of lust through the fires surrounding the embracing couples.
Vellutello's work "The Three Beasts" clarifies Canto I for me greatly. I sense from this image that there is a fear and sort of helpless wandering that plagues him. The three beasts, a leopard, a lion and she-wolf represent perhaps sins or the three levels of afterlife for Dante, but to me it seems to be sinister or malevolent forces that can ruin a man's life. It seems that it is actions and decisions that man makes which ultimately leads to sin and temptation. I also found it very interesting that he illustrated punishment for different sinners in a circular drawing. Perhaps that symbolizes the eternal sins of humans leading to purgatory and inferno, or perhaps it illustrated the ongoing journey and cycle of life that strives to right its sinful wrongs.
Botticelli also depicts the Three Beasts in his first image; however, I feel that it does not, as clearly as Vellutello, depict the fear of these beasts. Because, it doesn't only signify the end of physical life (quite literally from the image), but it signifies eternal suffering. However, I do find his images of paradise very interesting. In many religious paintings from the renaissance and middle ages, the image of a golden circle or semicircle are painted behind the heads of angels and saints. The image of "Heaven of Sun" has a circle surrounding them showing perhaps their glory in the afterlife as saints.
Lastly, for Gustave Dore's images really give you a strong sense of emotion from his images. The intensity of his paintings reflects the intensity of Dante's Inferno. His image of the "Lustful" I think really shows the suffering of sinners and perhaps that is extremely effective in complimenting the beliefs that Dante is stating in his Inferno. I also feel that his images of the "Dark Wood" give off a sense of foreboding and really gives you a feeling that if you were to take even the slightest wrong turn, you could be lost in the dark woods forever. It depicts exactly how Dante is sort of trying to find himself in the woods (which, supposedly, is supposed to signify the gates of hell?)and how the three beasts sort of stop him from proceeding. This really helps me visualize how the dark woods relates to the inferno, and purgatory and that as Dante is trying to find himself, he is trying to not fall into the traps within the dark woods to lead him to a sinner's life and ultimately the inferno.
I think these images are all extremely interesting in their own unique way, but I think Dore gives me a better understanding by far because of how he uses the images to portray the mood and gloom of the dark woods. He also shows how the consequences in purgatory and hell are very intense giving us, the readers, a better idea of why the dark woods is such a fearful experience. However, even though I felt a connection to Dore's images, I think viewing this variety and comparing them with each other really is what clarifies our understanding of Dante's Inferno. Especially because these images are all variations of each other.
The Three Beasts by Sandro Botticelli helps us with a better illustration of what is really happeneing in Canto 1. The image capture's Dantes idea of the dense forest and along with it the three beast that he encounters. The image of 3 people shown in an ascending manner shows the idea of Dante i.e. basically moving away from hell to other side. Moreover,it is also interesting that the painter is actually taking the effort to draw 3 people with the animal to describe the situation of how dante actually had to face each of the beasts.Furthermore, it is intruiging to see that Botticelli has perfectly fitted in Virgil's appearance at the end of the uphill which is one of the important scenes of Canto1.Overall, i personally feel that the painter has actually been successful in getting us the eesence of the poem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Roman said in the beginning. This picture of Dante entering into after life is very symbolic and mysterious. The burning woods in the picture is very scary and gives reader an idea that how hard and scary his feelings could be, as if it is hell.
ReplyDeleteBasically, this picture is combine emotions of Dante. These emotions were only felt by him, reader can only understand the idea of his feelings but cant really feel it. I guess this picture is the opening of the poem and holds a very symbolic meaning.
as i look at all these images, i feel that each artist had their own personal touch and feel to what is going on emotionally. that artist that i felt depicted the most emotion to what is going on in the story was Gustave Dore, i got the most sense of emotion from him. i felt like i was apart of the scene through the use of chiaroscuro in the photos. the deep contrast between black and white gives to me a heaven and hell feel. the "dark woods," to after reading about their journeys gave me an idea about how they were feeling in this dark huge area lost and feeling helpless. the use of perspective in this photo makes them seem so small to the outside world that they can not defeat what is ahead. the use of the boulder like rocks and huge trees give a creepy helpless feel, and them looking straight into it clueless. the dark woods give some glimpse of what the inferno and purgatory is or would be like and Dante's pursuit to stay far away from there.
ReplyDeleteThe Paolo and Francesca illustration really caught my eye. In this image i see a lot of suffering and pain and in my eye it's the way i picture hell. Even Though it is black and white if you look closely you could see the details. Its almost as if the characters in the picture are telling you the pain that they feel. For me it is a very emotional illustration because it describes pain to its maximum.
ReplyDeleteI felt the artist's depiction of the particular circle of hell where the lustful are punished as very accurate. It shows the punished being blown around like the wind to symbolize how they were taken away by lust. I found the story of Paulo and Francesca to be especially memorable because all though they were good people, they still gave into lust and were now being punished for it. Because of that, the punishment of the lustful work was one that stood out most to me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was scanning through all the pictures, only one artist's pictures, Gustave Dore, illustrated symbolism in Dante's poem. The first picture clearly demonstrates the loss of Dante and symbolism of a lion as a sin. The lion is a perfect symbol of sin because the sinful individuals not allowed to enter the haven. Therefore, this picture is symbolic opening of Dante's poem because it gives the idea to the reader that Dante has to go to journey through hell. In addition, the artist demonstrates emotional intensity of Dante. Imagine getting lost and coming across with a violent animal that is impossible for humans to run away on foot. Well, it is easy to say. To me, coming across with a wild dog, forget about a lion, while I am lost in the forest is the beginning of the hell. First, I know that I am lost; getting lost is a fear by it self because you are not sure what is awaiting you. Second, knowing that the wild dog can attack and cause a physical harm is the second fear and terror that can knock me down. Therefore, I think that this picture very well demonstrates the emotional intense Dante went through.
ReplyDeleteOut of all the Artists, I like Alessandro Vellutello's art the best. His art is well detailed, although it is quite busy. once you get through the clutter and see the image and what he tries to depict, it becomes clear. He shows the bright light coming from the top of the hill and the three beasts chasing Dante down back to the dark forest. His detailed drawing really helps bring out the fear that Dante is feeling while escaping from the beats.
ReplyDeleteThe Painting by Gustave Dore,"Dante and Virgil approaching the entrance to Hell" gives me an understanding of how dark and scary it is to he in hell. I can picture how it was for Dante to experience that for himself. The picture of hell is so loely, dark an big and i feel that is how hell is like, its a scary place to be and nobody wants to ever go there. Also i like that its in color, instead of black and white becasue you get a sense what is going on and you dont have to guess anything.The artist gave us a clear understanding that its not a fun place to be in hell.
ReplyDeleteThe painting that I most like is Gustave Dore's painting of "Dante turning from the she-wolf." You can see how scared Dante is of the animal. The colors that Dore uses, or perhaps the lack of color, makes the painting a prefect visualization of the dark forest. The painting is dark and almost frightening. You feel bad for Dante the Pilgrim. You can see the light shining in the distance which holds Dante's hopes of getting out of the forest.
ReplyDeleteMy other favorite painting is Botticelli's Satan. It's amazing to see the beast devouring humans. It's not even one head that's eating, but all three! The rendition is almost comical in a sense of how horrid Satan is depicted.
Gustave Doré's "Dark Wood" creates a great illustration of what would be imagined when reading the beginning cantos of Dante's Inferno. "I cannot clearly say how i had entered the wood.." is a quotation directly from the first canto which can be clearly be understood within this image. Both Dante and Virgil look as if they have entered a realm where they have no recognition of entering. All that surrounds them is the mysterious and frightening darkness.
ReplyDeleteAlong with the direct illustration comes along symbolism. With Virgil promising Dante that he would lead him through the paths of Hell and purgatory, this image can express what is set before them. A lot of darkness and fear will be struck on both individuals. Although going through this unknown territory can be fearful, paradise is worth it. This is what keeps the fire within Dante burning and the motivation wheel turning.
I liked Pinelli Bartolomeo's Minos judges the damned. It depicts the creature Minos who decides how deep you going to sing. It also show how desprate and afraid the siners are without any hope left. What I find little od is how Virgile and the pilgrim are depicted without any emotions. More as an observers, but I don't see the compation for the sinners that Dante discrabes in the Inferno
ReplyDeleteGustave Dore did an excellent job in potraying Minos, the judge of the dead in Canto V. Minos has a task of assigning souls to a particular place where every soul must spend eternity. In this image Minos is represented as a strong and powerful figure with his tail wrapped around his entire body indicating the Circle of Hell. He looks very comfortable in his position with his legs crossed, as if watching a play or enjoying the crowd that is presented in a dark corner. Gustave is exposing Minos in a very innocent way, where as the individuals on the bottom are portrayed as dark within a conflict amongst each other.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching some of the images in the page, the one that attracts me the more was the one of "The Three Beasts" by Priamo della Quercia. That image was a clear representation of what a designed in my mine while reading the book in Canto I. In there is easy to see the she wolf, the leopard and the lion that were that beast that push Dante, the pilgrim, to get in to the inferno, to offer us such a strange story.
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