I. Figura Universale della Divina Commedia [Overview of the Divine Comedy]
- Title:
- I. Figura Universale della Divina Commedia [Overview of the Divine Comedy]
- Alternate Title:
- Overview of the Divine Comedy]
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Caetani, Michelangelo
- Date:
- 1855
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2517.06
- File Name:
- PJM_2517_06.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1800 - 1869
- Subject:
- Allegorical
Heaven and Hell
Religion - Measurement:
- 49 x 35 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- The tantalizing details in Dante's Divine Comedy led a number of medieval scholars and artists to seek geographic and cosmographic knowledge from the work. "During the fifteenth century, the Florentine architect and mathematician 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. The collection includes a number of maps illustrating Dante's cosmography, published in a variety of formats over more than 350 years. (Search > "Dante"). For a comprehensive summary, see ID #1071.01, "Figura Universale Della Divina Commedia [Overview of the Divine Comedy]" (1872).
Manetti's original maps of Hell were first published c.1506 in woodblock form (ID ##1004.01-.07). Three and a half centuries later, Manetti's vision took new shape in the hands of Michelangelo Caetani, the Duke of Sermoneta, a political figure and Dante scholar. This illustration is from his work, "La Materia della Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri Dichiarata in VI Tavole" [The Substance of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy Described in VI Plates], published in Rome in 1855.
The centerpiece of this slim volume consists of six lithographed, hand-colored, folio-size plates. Three of these plates describe the Inferno: a plan view (ID #2517.08), a cross section (ID #2517.09), and a table relating the "Moral Content of Hell" to the "Form of the Poem" (Plate II, ID #2517.07). There is also a view of Purgatory (ID #2517.10), one of Paradise (ID #2517.11), and a comprehensive overview (ID #2517.06). Preceding this is a two-page Prologue and "Exposition of the VI Plates" signed by Caetani and Paolo Emilio Castagnola, a Roman poet and teacher (ID ##2517.04-.05). A note at the foot of plate II says that "the red [text] shows the subject matter of the [Exposition], the black writing the forms of the Poem."
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- Caetani, Michelangelo. 1855. La Materia della Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri Dichiarata in VI Tavole da Michelangelo Caetani. [The Substance of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy Described in VI Plates by Michelangelo Caetani]. Rome: s.n.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.