Botticelli's Inferno in high resolution. More Hell

To the great Florentine Dante from the great Florentine Botticelli, commissioned by the wealthy Florentine Lorenzo Medici. The “Divine Comedy” of the first inspired the second, with the money of the third, to create dozens of manuscripts illustrating in detail the literary masterpiece of the 14th century. 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 in ice, who torments in his three mouths the traitors of the majesty of the earth and heaven (Judas, Marcus Junius Brutus and Cassius - traitors of Jesus and Caesar, respectively).

The map of Hell was part of a large commission - the illustration of Dante's Divine Comedy. Unknown exact dates creation of manuscripts. 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 failed in 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 would have been involved in 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.

Among his contemporaries, Botticelli was not perceived as genius master. 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.

Botticelli was patronized by the Medici, famous art connoisseurs. It is believed that while the painter last 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.

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, the more people suffered from a sinful person, the deeper into the funnel of the earthly underworld King Minos will lower him, meeting 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 do not belong to anyone to the lower world, nor the highest. In this place, the human soul experiences sorrow, but there is no bodily torment, writes Dante.

On the 2nd circle, souls are already suffering. They are tormented by gusts of wind. Just as on earth they were restless and sought joy in voluptuousness, and not in the spiritual world, so 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, are 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.

On the very last circle, in the center, there is a 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 just her 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).

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 - a completely historical person, a person of noble origin, who, apparently, was simply an idol of Florentine high society. She was nicknamed Simonetta the Beautiful due to her incomparable 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 is the image of a slightly blissful artist who revels in sublime art and platonic love, became loose and underwent 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 of Inferno, for greater clarity, weaves into his plot a picturesque picture called “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.

“Having finished and opened the part of the painting entrusted to him, he immediately returned to Florence, where, being a thoughtful man, he partially illustrated Dante, making drawings for Hell, and published it in print, on which he spent a lot of time...”

In the 90s, another significant work of Botticelli appeared - his illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy, which he worked towards throughout his life. It is believed that the artist also wrote comments on this work, which had a great influence on the culture of late humanism.

The artist did not ignore the author of The Divine Comedy. Dante's portrait conveys calm, confidence, and steadfastness. His profile seems to be carved on a commemorative medal. A firm, concentrated gaze is directed forward. The poet seems to be peering into those invisible spheres, beyond the boundaries of our vain existence, about which he wrote so soulfully and talentedly. Laurel wreath, crowning Dante's head, symbolizes his poetic glory, the bright but simple red robe is associated with monastic vestments, emphasizing Dante's modesty. From under the red cap, the edge of the snow-white cap, with untied ribbons, stands out brightly, which symbolizes moral purity, and, perhaps, Dante’s self-irony. Like some other portraits, Botticelli depicted Dante's profile on plain background, without landscape or interior excesses, so as not to distract attention from the main character.

Botticelli's only large graphic cycle, illustrations for the Divine Comedy, like preparatory drawings, striking with the inspired trembling of lines, brilliant virtuosity, are very few.

Drawings for the “Divine Comedy” do not always receive the appropriate assessment. Usually historians point out that Dante’s fantasy was alien to the very essence of Botticelli’s work. But the best sheets amaze with their originality and brightness of figurative sound. Unfortunately, these drawings were never completed by the master. It is believed that he planned to create color illustrations, but only 4 of the 93 surviving sheets (9 were lost) are color. Currently, the drawings are kept in the collections of the Saatlich Museum in Berlin and the Vatican Library.

The grandiose world of “Comedy” (as Dante himself called his work; the epithet “divine” was adopted later) with its nature, history, man, and moral system was perceived through the prism of the idea of ​​passions and movements of the soul. In this peculiar interpretation, Hell was understood as the internal state of a vicious soul, which experiences not physical, but “imaginary” torments of disharmony, depression, and nightmares. The landscape and figures depicted by Dante were given the meaning of an illusion that arises in the depths of human consciousness. Botticelli twice turned to illustrating the Comedy. In 1481, based on Botticelli's drawings, engravings were made for her printing edition. In the 1490s, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici commissioned Sandro to draw on parchment to accompany the text of the poem.

The meaning of "Comedy" is intertwined with the Neoplatonic idea of high world manifestations of supersensible beauty, where the soul, free from bodily captivity, rises through the contemplation of the stages of divine emanation to the original and final Unity. Dante wrote 14,000 poems describing his fictional journey to Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. The epic is divided into 100 cantos: 34 are for Hell, 33 each for Purgatory and Paradise. First Dante travels through the afterlife with the poet Virgil, he is accompanied in Paradise by his muse, Beatrice.

I wish you well and wait
If you follow me on the good path,
And I will take you to eternal places,
You will hear the sorrow of evil despair,
You will see all the centuries of suffering dead,
Where in vain they call for a second death;
For this reason, those who wash away the filth of sins
Hoping there's consolation in the fire
They found it, and are waiting for crowns in time;
But to the saints in order to ascend to the village,
There is a soul worthy of me:
I will return you to her protection.

“The Divine Comedy” by Dante “Hell” Canto One, verses 112-123.

During his journey, Dante encounters many people - both strangers and famous people of the past and his time. They all got what they deserved.

The Abyss of Hell - Sandro Botticelli. 1480. Parchment and colored pencils. 32 x 47 cm

In 1480, Lorenzo de' Medici commissioned an illustrated manuscript with the text of Dante's popular Divine Comedy. The illustrative part was entrusted to Sandro Botticelli, and although the painter did not finish this work, even in this form it looks more than impressive. Of all the drawings, “The Abyss of Hell” is the most large-scale illustration.

Dante imagined hell as a kind of cyclical form, where the entire kingdom is divided into nine circles, which, in turn, are divided into rings. Botticelli approached the text of the poem very accurately, depicting not only all the rings and circles, but also individual stops that, according to the plot of the Divine Comedy, Dante and his guide Virgil made on the way to the center of the earth.

The further the circle, the more terrible and painful the sin. We see how every sinner suffers after death for his earthly deeds. Botticelli depicts hell as a funnel tapering towards the center of the earth, where Lucifer lives in captivity.

The 1st circle is unbaptized infants and the Old Testament righteous, whose punishment is painless grief. In the 2nd circle there are voluptuous people who are tortured by hurricanes and blows against rocks. The 3rd circle is the abode of gluttons, rotting in the rain, and the 4th circle is stingy and embezzled, who carry heavy things from place to place and, when they collide, lead fierce disputes. In the 5th circle there are souls of the despondent and angry, their punishment is a fight in a swamp with a bottom of despondent souls. The 6th circle met Dante with false teachers and heretics lying in hot graves. In the 7th circle there are rapists, the 8th circle is the deceived and deceivers who are in the cracks. And finally, the 9th circle represents the receptacle of souls who have accomplished the most terrible sin- betrayal. They were forever frozen in ice up to their necks with their faces turned down.

To understand the scale and meticulousness of Botticelli’s work, the drawing should be examined very carefully, and when studying the reproduction, you will have to resort to the help of a magnifying glass - and then, Dante’s entire narrative will unfold before the viewer with all the accuracy and power of the poetic word.