Early 20th century, Dante and Beatrice

Early 20th century

Dante and Beatrice

Alabaster, 33 x 20 x 36 cm

My eyes were already fixed on my face

of my lady, and my soul with them,

and he had withdrawn from any other intent.

And she didn't laugh; but «If I laughed»,

he began, «you would make yourself like that

it was Semele when I died of ashes:

because my beauty, that for the stairs

of the eternal palace lights up more,

as you have seen, the higher you go,9

if it were not tempered, it would shine so brightly,

that your mortal farm, in its splendor,

it would be a branch that descends from a throne

The present relief in alabaster, of which the great technical expertise is evident, imitates the pages of a book. On the two sides of this projecting figure is the bust of Dante Alighieri, in the typical profile pose in the ancient manner, who is enchanted observing the beloved Beatrice sculpted on the opposite page and in an elevated position, to underline her belonging more to the spiritual world than to the earthly one. 

The profile pose borrowed from ancient portraiture and which traditionally handed down to us the effigy of the great poet is an expedient to figuratively represent canto XXI of Paradise, of which the first verse is engraved in the upper edge of the work. In fact, in the present canto Dante reports that he already has his eyes fixed on the face of his beloved Beatrice, so much so that he is distracted from any other object. Beatrice did not smile, but she told him that if Dante had done it she would have had the same fate as Semele, daughter of Cadmus, who was incinerated for looking at Jupiter in all his splendor. The beautiful Beatrice, with her perfectly oval face and delicate features, is in an elevated position compared to the poet who follows her on her journey, suggesting her ascent into the skies of Paradise. 

Finally, what divides Dante from Beatrice is the laurel branch, a symbol of poets and writers which usually encircles Dante's head but which here is loose and positioned diagonally touching the pages of the book.

The object is in good condition

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