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| Dante lives again in Umbria | Introduction | ||||||||||||
In 1470 a small town in Umbria, Trevi, founded its own printing works thanks to the foresight and iconoclasm of a German, Johann Raynard. Until then only four other Italian cities could boast such a feat. 001 This enterprising German sought out certain enlightened citizens of the community in a bid to find financial support so as to create a typographical company. Raynard's foresight and iconoclasm were crowned with the success of this company as the first of its kind in the entire world. Given the Franciscan nature of the religious and political traditions of the area, the company produced an incunabulum containing a short Latin work, the so-called Perdono di Assisi. 002 Some twenty years later, a larger town nearby, Foligno, had developed its own press and was able, therefore, to take on an even more ambitious task. Thanks to the enterprising expertise of yet another German, Johann Neumeister 003 , Foligno produced the first-ever-printed edition of Dante's Divine Comedy. More than five hundred years later, Trevi has taken up the challenge of producing its own copy of the Divine Comedy. Now, like then, the huge effort involved has largely been carried out by a German, Bernhart Gillessen. In the fifteen year period between 1975 and 1990 spent at first in a watch-tower in Spoleto and then in an attic in Trevi, Gillessen's iconoclasm and versatility 004 has brought about more than seven-hundred paintings depicting just as many loci in Dante's Comedia. Every century, however, has produced its own illustrated editions of the Divine Comedy. Some fifteenth century illuminated manuscripts are still extant and, of course, the illustrious examples of Botticelli and Signorelli come directly to mind. In more recent times, artists such as Rodin, Guttuso, Greco, Dalì and De Chirico have turned their skills to illuminating this great text. Gillessen, therefore, is indeed in good company or a "bella scola" in his efforts to pictorially interpret Dante's masterpiece. Even though a certain analogy can be established between Gillessen and De Chirico from the points of view of their restless characters and dream-like, anti-conventional tendencies, the true novelty of Gillessen's Dantean corpus lies in its very extent and implicit philosophical-artistic baggage. Gillessen's corpus is a true commentary and exegesis of Dante's Comedìa. With respect to the more common written commentaries, at times Gillessen's pictorial language is by far more penetrating in its fathoming the ineffable in the most recondite recesses of the Florentine poet's thought. Gillessen has, for these reasons, been defined a pictor doctus 005 - an extremely learned painter. Gillessen's learned artistry is not only confined to the canvas. He demonstrates his deep understanding of fourteenth century mentality by having his oeuvre literally invade the city of Trevi. The medieval expression anima in coquina perficitur (the soul is perfected in the kitchen) could not have been better exemplified. Within the bowels of the city Gillessen has painted the infernal ferryman, Caronte, in the act of transporting a set of damned souls towards the hot ovens situated in the deep cellars of a local restaurant. 006 These souls have presumably committed the sin of gluttony. The main aim of this article is to present an overview of Gillessen's Dantean corpus. Seeing that I am not an art critic, I shall endeavour to do this by simply donning the humble garments of a reverent admirer of Dante's works. The end product will be a type of sylloge or florilegium of the pieces I believe to be the most salient. For reasons of space it will be impossible to comment on each and every one of the pieces making up the pictorial commentary. Let me hasten to say, however, that for those looking for unpublished and truly innovating illustrations for a new edition of the Divine Comedy, this is exactly what would be necessary. Gillessen's efforts have allowed him to achieve a corpus of illustrations depicting hundreds of loci in the Divine Comedy. Though extremely brief, the selection of illustrations we have decided to comment has allowed us to ascertain the frequent use of the re-elaborating poetics which Dante uses regarding his classical sources. Gillessen uses it, instead, by re-elaborating Dante regarding this century. We have also noticed that Gillessen's ever-vigil brush has often been able to interpret the Comedy and find allusions and meanings which normally remain only implied in Dante's text. These allusions and meanings can normally be found only in the extremely elitist groups of lectura Dantis. Gillessen's pictorial comment is, therefore, extremely generous with its profound analyses and would thus prove to be a worthy companion for a new, prestigious and important edition of Dante's Comedy. Rodney J. Lokaj was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1963. After having graduated in Italian Studies and Psychology he moved to Italy where he still lives in a smalI village near Spoleto. He obtained a Dottorato in Latin Literature discussing a thesis on a Virgilian motif in Petrarch. He is currently doing research for a Ph.D. in mediaeval literature at the University of Edinburgh where he also teaches mediaeval Italian literature. He has published both abroad and in Italy in literary journals such as Il Veltro and L'Alighieri. He has presented his work at international conferences in England, Germany and Italy.
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Introduction Dante lost in the dark wood (Inferno, I) Dante - follower of Christ made flesh (Inferno, I) The arrival of Caronte (Inferno, III) The Noble Castle of Limbo (Inferno, IV) Tremendous Minos (Inferno, V) The lustful Guido Guinizelli and Arnaut Daniel (Purgatorio, XXVI) Souls in the circle of the envious (Purgatorio, XIII) The sky of Mercury - the active spirits (Paradiso, V-VI) Invective of St. Benedict (Paradiso, XXII) index | |||||||||||||
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