Sandro Botticelli: The Drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy

by Hein-Thomas Schulze Altcappenberg (Contributor)

In the 1480s, the great Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli was commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici to make a series of drawings to illustrate Dante's Divine Comedy. Botticelli gave stunning visual form to the poet's epic journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, but the project was never completed and the sheets were scattered. Now, more than 500 years after their creation, all 91 existing -- and very fragile -- vellum sheets will be shown together for the first time, in Berlin, Rome, and London. This book, which accompanies the exhibition, illustrates each of Botticelli's canto sheets in superb color, faced by a commentary on Botticelli's pictorial response to Dante's poem by Hein-Thomas Schulze Altcappenberg of the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, where 84 of the sheets are permanently housed. Eight essays on Botticelli, the Medici, and the Divine Comedy complete this unprecedented volume.

Genres: Art, Italy, Renaissance, Religion

360 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Ray LaManna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful drawings of most of the cantos of The Divine Comedy...very good commentary as well.

[TheGirlWhoLivedUpstairs]

Saw 'The Divine Comedy' Botticelli exhibition at the Royal Academy in London years ago, and wish now I had picked up a copy of this book (especially having seen the price of a second hand copy!). Exquisite drawings.

[Robert Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Research book - excellent edition.