Reading Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, a poem rich in references to 14th-century Florentine politics and medieval Catholic theology, can seem like a daunting task. Much depends on the translation and, of course, on the illustrations, maps and diagrams. They give the text figurative materiality, which helps the reader follow the bright events of the poem, as the heroes go through the nine circles of hell, meeting its doomed inhabitants at each, right down to Lucifer frozen in the ice, gnawing Judas, Brutus and Cassius with three jaws.

The Divine Comedy, having become one of the greatest works of literature, gave rise to a craze for “infernal cartography.” The desire to depict Dante's "Hell" was fueled by the popularity of cartography and the Renaissance's obsession with proportion and measurement.

Calculations by Antonio Manetti, 1529.

The fascination with mapping Hell began with Antonio Manetti, a 15th-century Florentine architect and mathematician. He worked diligently on "place, shape and size", for example estimating the width of Limbus to be approximately 141 kilometers.

Illustration by Antonio Manetti.

Illustration by Antonio Manetti.

However, disputes arose among scientists regarding mapping fictional world. Thinkers asked questions: What is the circumference of Hell? How deep is it? Where is the entrance? Even Galileo Galilei got involved in the discussions. In 1588, he gave two lectures in which he explored the dimensions of Hell and eventually supported Manetti's version of the topography of Hell.

Map of Hell by Botticelli.

One of the first maps of Dante's Inferno appeared in a series of ninety illustrations by Sandro Botticelli, a compatriot of the poet and creator High Renaissance, who created his drawings in the 1480-90s by order of another famous Florentine - Lorenzo de' Medici. Deborah Parker, professor Italian language at the University of Virginia, writes: "Botticelli's Map of Hell has long been regarded as one of the most compelling visual representations... of Dante's descent with Virgil through the 'terrible valley of pain.'"

Map of Hell by Michelangelo Caetani, 1855.

Dante's Inferno has been visualized countless times, from purely schematic representations, as in Michelangelo Caetani's 1855 diagram, which has little detail but a clear systematic use of color, to richly illustrated maps, as in Jacques Callot's 1612 version.

Illustrative version of Jacques Callot's map of Hell, 1612.

Even after hundreds of years of cultural change and upheaval, Inferno and its horrific scenes of torture continue to capture the interest of readers and illustrators. For example, below is Daniel Heald's version. His 1994 map lacks Botticelli's gilded sheen, but it's another clear visual guide through the poet's afterlife.

Daniel Heald, 1994

Lindsay McCulloch, 2000

Map of Hell from a book published by Aldus Manutius at the end of the 15th century.

Map of Hell by Giovanni Stradano (Stradanus), 1587.

Botticelli's drawings illustrating the Songs of Hell from " Divine Comedy"Dante, filled with small, rushing figures of sinners, are full of an alarming confusion of lines; some of them, where the motif of a grandiose vault-staircase connecting the circles of hell is repeated, has genuine stern grandeur.

The colored sheets for Cantos ten and eighteen give an idea of ​​how Botticelli intended the entire cycle of illustrations. Main characters- Dante and Virgil - attract attention with bright robes against a faded background.

Traveling through the sixth circle of Hell, Dante and Virgil end up in the city of Dit. There are stone tombs in which fire burns. Sinners, followers of the teachings of Epicurus who do not believe in the afterlife, are punished there.

Everywhere you look there is the appearance of an old tomb, -
So here you could see graves everywhere,
For those who died with the bitterest punishment;
A persistent flame, kindled latently,
Burned in these pits, making them so hot,
How to heat iron is difficult.
In open coffins and in open crayfish
The tormented breasts moaned bitterly
Outcasts - you know, their vision was pitiful.

“The Divine Comedy” by Dante “Hell” Canto IX, verses 115-123.

While traveling through the eighth circle of hell, they encounter the souls of sinners, tormented by demons for various sins. The souls of deceivers, pimps and seducers moving in rows are subjected to cruel scourging; the souls of hypocrites and harlots are immersed in a ditch of sewage.

Naked sinners walk in rows:
Some rush towards us in alarm,
And in our step - but with a wider step - others,
Like the Romans, who are many in number,
In the anniversary year, avoiding the crush,
The bridge was divided into two roads:
One column stretched, walking
Towards the castle, to the Church of St. Peter,
And another one was walking towards her, up the hill.
Here and there in the depths of the harsh
Demons with horns brutally scourged
The sinful backs of the naked people.

“The Divine Comedy” by Dante “Hell” Canto XVIII, verses 25-36.

The drawing for Song Thirty-one depicts ancient giants who rebelled against the gods. As punishment, they were chained in a dark well. Giants symbolize the brute force of nature.

Among them is the builder of the Tower of Babel, King Nimrod, blowing a horn suspended from his neck. Gigint Elfiat, tightly entwined with five turns of chain, starting from the neck so that right hand pressed to the body from behind, and the left one from the front. Antaeus, the only one free from chains, takes Dante and Virgil to the next, ninth circle.

Illustrating the thirty-fourth and final Canto of Hell, Botticelli depicts in the last circle of hell, called Giudecca, a three-headed Lucifer, with wings like bat. In the teeth of the three heads of the prince of darkness are the three greatest sinners and traitors - Brutus and Cassius, the murderers of Caesar, and Judas, who betrayed Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Prince of darkness, above whom all Hell is piled,
Half raised his chest made of ice;
And the giant is more than my equal,
What is in his hand (so that you can count,
What is he like in full height, and the power of vision,
I fully comprehended what appeared to us).
Anciently beautiful, today it’s disgusting,
He raised his disdainful gaze to the Creator -
He is the embodiment of all vices and evil!
And it was necessary to look so disgusting -
His head was equipped with three faces!
The first is above the chest, red, savage;
And on the sides there are two, the place where they meet
Over the shoulders; with a brutal look
Every face looked around wildly.
The first one seemed to be yellow and white,
And the left one is like those who lived for a long time
Near the Nile Falls, blackened.
Under each is a pair of the widest wings,
As befits a bird so powerful;
The goldfinches never matured under such a sail.
Without feathers, like a bat;
He rotated them, and the three winds blew
They flew, each in a viscous stream;
These jets made Cocytus freeze, freezing.
Six eyes wept; three mouths through lips
They were oozing saliva and turning pink with blood.
And here, and here, and there the teeth tormented
By the sinner; So there are only three of them,
And they endure great suffering.

To the great Florentine Dante from the great Florentine Botticelli, commissioned by a wealthy Florentine Lorenzo Medici. The “Divine Comedy” of the first inspired the second to create dozens of manuscripts with the money of the third, in more detail illustrating a 14th-century literary masterpiece. The greatest interest is caused by a kind of infographic of Hell - a map, following which the heroes of the “Divine Comedy” can be seen in detail the torment to which sinners are subjected. The spectacle is not for the faint of heart.

Plot

Botticelli depicted Hell as a funnel. Unbaptized infants and virtuous non-Christians in limbo are given over to painless grief; voluptuous people who fall into the second circle for lust suffer torment and torment by a hurricane; gluttons in the third circle rot in the rain and hail; misers and spendthrifts drag weights from place to place in the fourth circle; the angry and lazy always fight in the swamps of the fifth circle; heretics and false prophets lie in the burning graves of the sixth; all kinds of rapists, depending on the subject of the abuse, suffer in different zones of the seventh circle - boil in a ditch of hot blood, tormented by harpies or languish in the desert under the fiery rain; deceivers of those who did not trust languish in the cracks of the eighth circle: some are stuck in fetid feces, some are boiling in tar, some are chained, some are tormented by reptiles, some are gutted; and the ninth circle is prepared for those who deceived. Among the latter is Lucifer, frozen into ice, who torments in his three jaws the traitors of the majesty of the earth and heaven (Judas, Marcus Junius Brutus and Cassius - traitors of Jesus and Caesar, respectively).

Here you can see in detail the torment of sinners. The emotions and feelings of each character are written out in detail

The map of Hell was part of a large commission - the illustration of Dante's Divine Comedy. The exact dates of creation of the manuscripts are unknown. Researchers agree that Botticelli began working on them in the mid-1480s and, with some interruptions, was busy with them until the death of the customer, Lorenzo the Magnificent de' Medici.

Not all pages have been preserved. Presumably, there should be about 100 of them; 92 manuscripts have reached us, four of which are fully colored. Several pages of text or numbers are blank, suggesting that Botticelli did not complete the work. Most are sketches. At that time, paper was expensive, and the artist could not simply throw away a sheet of paper with a failed sketch. Therefore, Botticelli first worked with a silver needle, squeezing out the design. Some manuscripts show how the design changed: from the composition as a whole to the position of individual figures. Only when the artist was satisfied with the sketch did he trace the outlines in ink.

On the reverse side of each illustration, Botticelli indicated Dante's text, which explained the drawing.

Context

"The Divine Comedy" is a kind of response to Dante's events own life. Having suffered a fiasco in the political struggle in Florence and being expelled from hometown, he devoted himself to enlightenment and self-education, including the study of ancient authors. It is no coincidence that the guide in The Divine Comedy is Virgil, the ancient Roman poet.

The dark forest in which the hero got lost is a metaphor for the poet’s sins and quests. Virgil (reason) saves the hero (Dante) from terrible beasts (mortal sins) and leads him through Hell to Purgatory, after which he gives way to Beatrice (divine grace) on the threshold of heaven.

The fate of the artist

Botticelli was from a family of goldsmiths and had to deal with gold and other precious metals. However, the boy liked sketching and drawing much more. Immersed in a world of fantasy, Sandro forgot about his surroundings. He turned life into art, and art became life for him.

"Spring" by Botticelli, 1482

Among his contemporaries, Botticelli was not perceived as a master of genius. Yes, good artist. But that was the period when many people worked, who later became famous masters. For the 15th century, Sandro Botticelli was a reliable master who could be entrusted with painting frescoes or illustrating books, but not a genius.

“The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli, 1484−1486

Botticelli was patronized by the Medici, famous art connoisseurs. It is believed that while the painter recent years spent his life almost in poverty. however, there is evidence that Botticelli was not as poor as he wanted to appear. Nevertheless, he had neither his own home nor his family. The very idea of ​​marriage frightened him.

After meeting the monk Girolamo Savonarola, who in his sermons convincingly called for repentance and renunciation of the delights of earthly life, Botticelli completely fell into asceticism. The artist died at the age of 66 in Florence, where his ashes still rest today in the cemetery of the Church of All Saints.

Sandro Botticelli always seemed to me a very subtle and gentle artist and an insecure, unadapted person. Maybe that’s how he was... But recently new details about his life and work were revealed to me, and my opinion about him not only changed, but was enriched. It turns out that there is some kind of secret - not a secret, but in any case unexpected and surprising things that can excite and intrigue... So, which paintings are most symbolic for the artist and who was the model for the main characters of Sandro Botticelli - today we are talking about this.

Botticelli, Birth of Venus

I don’t know how the official interpretation compares: which painting is most famous: “Spring” or “The Birth of Venus”?

Birth of Venus

They are both beautiful, both extremely famous. But for me, as long as I can remember, Botticelli’s Venus has always been the standard of femininity and beauty. I’ve recently been reading Irving Stone’s book “Trouble and Joy.” It is dedicated to Michelangelo, which already does this literary work unusually attractive in my eyes. But in general this is a kind of textbook about the Renaissance, about Florence - the homeland of a whole galaxy of brilliant masters, about outstanding representatives of the Medici dynasty. Gorgeous thing! And there I read that Sandro Botticelli’s beloved was a certain girl Simonetta, who also served as the prototype for most of the irresistible female images artist.

I suspected that this was the author's invention, purely literary character. But no! I read it on Wikipedia - absolutely historical figure, person noble birth, which, apparently, was simply the idol of the Florentine high society. She had the nickname Simonetta the Beautiful for the incomparable reason external beauty. But legends have preserved the image of Simonetta as a girl of exceptionally meek, modest and charming behavior. They say that all the Florentine men were in love with her, and at the same time, she was spared the jealousy and envy of women. Does this really happen? It looks like an idealized fairy tale, but the name of Simonetta the Beautiful remained in history, although she lived only 23 years... One way or another, it is believed that Sandro Botticelli secretly loved her all his life, depicted the young woman from memory in his paintings after her death, never did not marry and had no children, and finally, he bequeathed to bury himself next to Simonetta... This is such a touching and romantic story, which only enhances the gentle and refined motifs in the artist’s work.

Botticelli, Map of Hell

And suddenly - I’m not afraid of comparison: like a bolt from the blue! - such an image of a slightly blissful artist, who revels in sublime art and platonic love, has become loose and has undergone revision! Again from fiction, namely from Dan Brown’s novel “Inferno” I draw various information about Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. And in general, as in the previous case, not only about the great poet and his famous poem, but again about the Renaissance, about Florence and its famous citizens. Describing and explaining in great detail the meaning of the circles of Dante's hell, the author weaves Inferno into his plot for greater clarity a picturesque picture with the title "Map of Hell".

And what do you think, who is the creator of this truly “hellish” picture? Yes, Sandro Botticelli. I can't believe this singer female beauty and exquisite magical harmony, could be seduced by images of all sorts of horrors that sinners endured in hell! I again think that these are artistic liberties and assumptions that in fact such a picture did not exist. And if such a real painting existed, then its author could not have been Botticelli. Again, I check with Wikipedia: yes, the artist actually created a series of illustrations for the “Divine Comedy” at one time. And somewhere on the Internet I find this very Map of Hell... Well, should I say I’m disappointed? No, by no means, rather surprised. It turns out that this is how Love, Beauty, and service can be intertwined in a bizarre way To the beautiful lady and gloomy, heavy thoughts about human destinies. After all, these dark thoughts could not help but exist when creating a work with such a plot and title - Map of Hell.

The theme of the circles of hell was already developed by artists, composers, and directors of the 20th century. Many video game fans know that there is a game called Dante: Inferno. And in 2010, a fantasy cartoon based on the book by D. Alighieri was even published.

9 circles of hell: Dante's Divine Comedy

The famous singer and probably the first science fiction writer, Dante, depicted the 9 circles of hell in The Divine Comedy as a huge funnel. The more serious the sin more people suffered from a sinful person, the deeper into the funnel of the earthly underworld will be lowered by King Minos, who meets the deceased on the 2nd circle. The poet Dante described the 9 circles of hell as a place where on each “floor” the souls of the dead serve hard labor. The poem was written in the dark ages, when the human mind was shackled by the fear of purgatory.

Dante worked on the poem for a long time - from 1307 to 1321. That is, the poem has been glorifying the name of this man for more than 700 years. For literature, this is an excellent example of medieval poetry. The entire poem is written in terzas, with a stylistic charm unprecedented for those times.

The poet describes all these circles of hell as very dark and cruel, as only a person who lived in the era of Catholic despotism could imagine. For general idea Let's describe all 9 circles, as they are depicted exactly in the original source - the poem "The Divine Comedy".

Description of the first 5 circles of hell

In limbo (1st circle), Dante “settled” poets and scientists of antiquity who were not baptized. So, in essence, their souls belong neither to the lower world nor to the higher one. In this place, the human soul experiences sorrow, but there is no bodily torment, writes Dante.

On the 2nd circle, souls are already tormented. They are tormented by gusts of wind. How on earth they were restless and sought pleasure in voluptuousness, and not in spiritual world, and here they will forever be tormented by an unprecedented storm.

The next circle is the afterlife haven of gluttons and gourmets. They are doomed to rot under the constant and nasty rain. Next comes greed. This sin is punished by the fact that the soul of the miser is obliged to drag weights on his back forever and fight with other souls who drag the same bales towards him.

The last circle of less serious sins associated with incontinence and craving for material things is a circle for the souls of angry, lazy or despondent people.

Circles of hell for the most terrible torments

The most terrible sins, according to the writer, is violence, deception, extravagance, hypocrisy and betrayal. Circle 6 is for false teachers who have directed human minds to lies for their own benefit. In all the “open spaces” of the 7th tier, rapists are tormented. And the 8th and 9th circles are for the most “refined” hypocrites, heretics, pimps and seducers. As well as trading priests and alchemists. It is these sins that Dante condemns, and for such souls eternal hard labor in the 9th circle is most terrible.

Actually last lap, in the center, located fallen angel, frozen into a lake with the ancient name Cocytus. Such people are doomed to be tortured in his teeth historical figures, like Judas, as well as those who betrayed Caesar, Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius.

Dante Alighieri describes the 9 circles of hell as truly terrifying and unusual.

Who inspired Dante?

Like every writer, Dante had his own muse. A girl named Bice (the genius himself later gave her the name Beatrice) inspired the talented young man with her mere existence. He was so selflessly and for a long time devoted with all his thoughts to only one lady of his heart that his greatest work, like his other poetry, was written in her honor.

Many masters of the brush depicted this girl with the poet. The artist Holiday Henry painted the painting “Dante and Beatrice” (year of painting - 1883).