Description
What would Dante have written Is an oil painting made in 2018 on linen with an aluminium muscle frame measuring 140 x 100 cm, finished with a matt varnish in a black frame.
Dante’s full name is Dante di degli Alighieri 1265-1321 born in Florence pictured here on the left using the painting by the Italian painter Domenico Peterlin as a source. In the background Florence, with the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Flore, the Duomo for short, on the left and the Palazzo Vecchio on the right. Dante was exiled from Florence in 1302 and died in Ravenna in 1321, where he is also buried.
Dante was an Italian poet, writer, moral philosopher and politician. In his epic poem “The Divine Comedy”, Dante describes his imaginary journey through the three realms of the afterlife, hell, purgatory and paradise.
Part of Dante’s religious thinking was Beatrice Partinari, above right. Beatrice lived from 1266 to 1290, and she was for Dante the epitome of beauty and charm. In Dante’s ”Divine Comedy”, Beatrice is the angel who asks Virgil to guide Dante through hell and heaven. The hell depicted in the foreground is the current situation in the city of Mosul, where, in addition to all the misery, death is a constant presence. The dancers in the background represent the rest of the world where life goes on, unaware of Dante ‘s contemplation.
Gerrit Swaan