artStudio | Dante lives again in Umbria

Dante lives again in Umbria Dante - follower of Christ made flesh

Although this portrait appears amongst the "infernal" works, it represents Dante who painfully and knowingly contemplates the hardships of experience. He, however, seems somehow to be detached from the adventure of the Commedia. Analogously we do not know whether this detachment is before or after this adventure, nor whether the hardships concerned are still to be or already have been experienced, nor whether they are his own or those of humanity. The monk's habit and the crown of thorns, however, dispel somewhat these doubts. They indicate that the poeta doctus has brought out the homo interior and discovered his own Christic self within. Here Gillessen demonstrates that he has reflected at length on both Dante's text and the relative critical literature. Dante is most commonly represented in illustrations as the poet crowned with laurel leaves. Here, however, he quite naturally wears a crown of thorns. These thorns pierce him making him bleed. The crown, then, becomes both a symbol of triumph and victory, but also the infula of the sacrificial animal. The crowned pilgrim is, therefore, both the Anointed One who will be crucified and the Christian who will have to submit to the will of God through which he will suffer torment and wounding. The parallel between Christ and Dante is thus perfectly achieved. So as to return to the Father, Christ had to die upon the Cross and descend on Good Friday right down to very bottom of Hell. The Earth itself trembled in horror that the Son of God should have to suffer such a mortal death. The resulting earthquake actually ruined the architecture of hell to such an extent that Virgil, who had passed through it only nineteen years before Christ's birth, did not fully recognise it anymore when leading Dante through it. Christ liberated the Patriarchs of the Old Testament and remained in the realms of darkness for two days. Only on the third day did He rise again triumphantly, the only truly worthy Son of the First Love. Seeing that the Later Middle Ages posited man as a microcosm which was also the mirror image of the macrocosm, analogously Dante, an exemplary poet and pilgrim, is intimately Christian only if he too follows in Christ's footsteps. It is a direct consequence that Dante too should descend to the bottom of Hell on Good Friday and remain two days in the dark realms of the hereafter, Hell and Purgatory. Only on the third day and, therefore, in the third Cantica or book of the Divina Commedia, Paradiso, will Dante be able to contemplate both the wonders of the empyrean and the most holy face of Christ. The price, however, of such an adventure is a deep empathetic pain for human affliction, hardships and wounds so deep as to purge him of every trace of sin. Gillessen presents Dante as a second Christ, the exemplary man par excellence, who will literally go through Hell for the good of all humanity and the greater glory of the Father.
Dante - follower of Christ made flesh

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

Dante lives again in Umbria	Dante - follower of Christ made flesh
Although this portrait appears amongst the "infernal" works, it represents Dante who painfully and knowingly contemplates the hardships of experience. He, however, seems somehow to be detached from the adventure of the Commedia. Analogously we do not know whether this detachment is before or after this adventure, nor whether the hardships concerned are still to be or already have been experienced, nor whether they are his own or those of humanity. The monk's habit and the crown of thorns, however, dispel somewhat these doubts. They indicate that the poeta doctus has brought out the homo interior and discovered his own Christic self within. Here Gillessen demonstrates that he has reflected at length on both Dante's text and the relative critical literature. Dante is most commonly represented in illustrations as the poet crowned with laurel leaves. Here, however, he quite naturally wears a crown of thorns. These thorns pierce him making him bleed. The crown, then, becomes both a symbol of triumph and victory, but also the infula of the sacrificial animal. The crowned pilgrim is, therefore, both the Anointed One who will be crucified and the Christian who will have to submit to the will of God through which he will suffer torment and wounding. The parallel between Christ and Dante is thus perfectly achieved. So as to return to the Father, Christ had to die upon the Cross and descend on Good Friday right down to very bottom of Hell. The Earth itself trembled in horror that the Son of God should have to suffer such a mortal death. The resulting earthquake actually ruined the architecture of hell to such an extent that Virgil, who had passed through it only nineteen years before Christ's birth, did not fully recognise it anymore when leading Dante through it. Christ liberated the Patriarchs of the Old Testament and remained in the realms of darkness for two days. Only on the third day did He rise again triumphantly, the only truly worthy Son of the First Love. Seeing that the Later Middle Ages posited man as a microcosm which was also the mirror image of the macrocosm, analogously Dante, an exemplary poet and pilgrim, is intimately Christian only if he too follows in Christ's footsteps. It is a direct consequence that Dante too should descend to the bottom of Hell on Good Friday and remain two days in the dark realms of the hereafter, Hell and Purgatory. Only on the third day and, therefore, in the third Cantica or book of the Divina Commedia, Paradiso, will Dante be able to contemplate both the wonders of the empyrean and the most holy face of Christ. The price, however, of such an adventure is a deep empathetic pain for human affliction, hardships and wounds so deep as to purge him of every trace of sin. Gillessen presents Dante as a second Christ, the exemplary man par excellence, who will literally go through Hell for the good of all humanity and the greater glory of the Father.
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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