Dante's Inferno as seen in The Abyss of Hell by Sandro Botticelli

Major exhibition dedicated to Dante’s Inferno

By Region Central Italy Culture News

As part of Italy’s 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, Rome has the first major exhibition dedicated to Dante’s Inferno.

The Scuderie del Quirinale returns with a new show marking the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri. Dante’s Divine Comedy consists of three parts – Paradise, Purgatory and Hell (Inferno).

Running from 15th October to 9th January 2022, the show – titled Inferno – consists of more than 200 artworks from over 80 museums, public and private collections from Italy, the Vatican and Europe.

A look into hell

Inferno will document a wide range of hell-related iconography, from the Middle Ages to the present day.  

The “powerful, ambitious and spectacular” show will take visitors on a visual journey into the depths of hell, as imagined by artists through the centuries. The artwork will be accompanied by the words of Dante, the ‘Father of the Italian language’.

From Mediaeval to psychoanalytic interpretations from the 20th century, the artworks depict visions of hell.

The exhibition also presents scenes of “hell on earth”. It delves into the concept of salvation, as offered by Dante in the last canto of the Inferno Canticle: “…And so we went out to see the stars again.”

Vatican lends a Botticelli

Visitors during the first weeks of the exhibition will get to see the Abyss of Hell by Botticelli loaned by the Vatican.

Alongside will be scale paster cast model of Rodin’s Gates of Hell from the Musée Rodin in Paris.

Other masterpieces include works by Bosch, Bruegel, Goya, Manet, Delacroix, Rodin, Cézanne, Richter and Kiefer.

For exhibition details, visit the Scuderie del Quirinale website.

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