The Divine Comedy Described in Six Plates
- Alternate Title:
- La materia della Divina commedia di Dante Alighieri dichiarata in VI tavole da Michelangelo Caetani
- Title:
- The Divine Comedy Described in Six Plates
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Caetani, Michelangelo
- Other Creators:
- D. Oderisio Piscicelli Taeggi, artist
- Date:
- 1855
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1071.07
- File Name:
- PJM_1071_07.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1800 - 1869
- Materials/Techniques:
- chromolithographs
- Subject:
- Religion
Heaven and Hell
Allegorical - Measurement:
- 24.5 x 17.5 on sheet 32 x 23 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- The tantalizing details in Dante's work led a number of medieval scholars and artists to attempt a topography of the Divine Comedy. "During the fifteenth century, the Florentine architect Antonio Manetti decided that one could gather the information presented in [The Inferno] and extrapolate from it to map out precisely the size, shape and location of Dante's Hell." Padron 2007, 261. For Manetti's images, see ID ##1004.01-.07.
Manetti's analysis was reflected in Botticelli's famous Chart of Hell and guided scholars and artists for centuries thereafter. Parker 2013, 87-89. Manetti's posthumous work presents "the first printed maps of Dante's hell and, as such, the beginning of a venerable tradition." Cachey 2007, 453. Venerable indeed: 350 years later, Michelangelo Caetani published "The Content of Dante's Divine Comedy Described in Six Plates" (ID ##1071.01-.07), applying modern chromolithography to Manetti's 15th Century ideas. Caetani, the Duke of Sermoneta, was a leading Dante scholar of his time. His work was printed by the monks at Monte Cassino.
See generally Padron 2007, 260-65. For critical views on the notion of mapping the Inferno from the text of Dante, see Gilbert 1945; Kleiner 1994.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Caetani, Michelangelo. La materia della Divina commedia di Dante Alighieri dichiarata in VI tavole da Michelangelo Caetani. Montecassino: Monaci benedettini di Montecassino.
- Repository:
- Private Collection of PJ Mode
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.