The Uffizi's Dantedì, from the purchase of an important painting to a virtual tour of the museum's underworld

On the occasion of the first Dante Wednesday, March 25, 2020, the Uffizi Galleries are offering many initiatives, starting with an online exhibition dedicated to Dante’s images from their collections.

On the Uffizi website, avirtual exhibition dedicated to Dante, entitled Non per foco ma per divin’arte. Dante images from the Uffizi Galleries: a selection of eleven works, including paintings, drawings and sculptures from the 15th to the 19th century, through which the figure of Dante in the history of art will be told. These include Andrea del Castagno ’s famous fresco depicting the Supreme Poet, and scenes from the Divine Comedy such as Federico Zuccari’s The Dark Forest, Livio Mehus’Entrance to Hades with Virgil, as well as masterpieces by Cimabue, Giotto, Botticelli and Pio Fedi. The virtual exhibition will be introduced by an essay on Dante and art by Paolo Procaccioli, full professor at the University of Tuscia in Viterbo.

Already today, on the eve of Dantedì, a video on Sandro Botticelli ’s St. Barnabas Altarpiece (1487) is posted on the Galleries’ Facebook channel: the video is part of the #raccontidipinti series, dedicated to the relationship between poetry and painting. In the large altarpiece, on the last step of the Virgin’s throne is engraved the incipit of the last canto of Paradise, “Virgin mother and daughter of your son.”

From the morning of March 25, two videos will instead be available, a sort of virtual tour in two episodes, to discover the basement of the medieval church of San Pier Scheraggio, incorporated in the 16th century by Giorgio Vasari into the Uffizi factory: this virtual journey will take visitors to early 14th-century Florence, when the Council of the People, of which Dante Alighieri was a member, met there. In the first video, Novella Lapini, museum assistant, will illustrate the relationship between the Romanesque church of San Pier Scheraggio and the Supreme Poet, while the second will feature a “descent into the underworld” with the guidance of an exceptional ’Virgil,’ Fabrizio Paolucci, who will descend into excavations not visible to the public and take visitors to even more ancient times, back to the Roman period.

The Uffizi Galleries also acquired an important work by Nicola Monti (Pistoia, 1780 - Cortona, 1864): it is the first documented work by the artist, was made in 1810 for Livorno shopkeeper Luigi Fauquet, his patron, and depicts Francesca da Rimini in Dante’s Inferno. A painting inspired by the famous episode from Canto V of the Inferno and reflecting the artist’s lonely and tormented soul.

“Dante is part of the heritage of the Uffizi Galleries not only because of our Dante collections, but also because of the place he frequented in his public and political capacity, the former church of San Pier Scheraggio, in the 16th century incorporated by Vasari into the Uffizi factory. This is why we proudly participate as protagonists in the first national celebration of Dante, with the digital means that in this period of physical isolation have become fundamental tools of bonding all Italians. No historical figure represents the unity in diversity of the various peoples of Italy as much as the Supreme Poet,” commented the director of the Galleries, Eike Schmidt.

Image: Nicola Monti, Francesca da Rimini in Dante’s Inferno (1810; Florence, Uffizi Galleries)

The Uffizi's Dantedì, from the purchase of an important painting to a virtual tour of the museum's underworld

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.