| artStudio |
|
|
| Presenze |
|
| Dante lives again in Umbria | The Noble Castle of Limbo... | ||||||||||
The intrinsic intellectual nobility of the dwellers of Limbo is dramatically depicted in both the vertical thrust of the city and in the undisputedly refined choice of later middle age and Renaissance architecture. It is exactly in this choice that Gillessen personalises his art. The noble palaces constituting the city are all Umbrian. The highest point is the bell-tower of the Cathedral in Spoleto, the baptistery (!) standing along side it is to found in Foligno, the main palace immediately beneath the bell-tower reminds us of Palazzo Trinci also in Foligno while this and other features remind us of the physiognomy of Trevi. At a first glance, Gillessen's Trevi and all the other hallmarks of the Umbria he loves so much, would seem to rest on a base similar to the foundations of the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. This would lead us to believe that Gillessen had decided to re-elaborate Dante's noble castle from within a Franciscan perspective. Seeing that the construction of the Basilica in Assisi actually brought about a change in the name, from Collis Inferni (the hill of Hell) to Collis Paradisi (the hill of Heaven), 010 via analogy we could infer that Gillessen's "Franciscan" castle in Limbo had changed a place of death almost into a paradise. A closer examination of this castle, however, does not allow us to hypothesise that Gillessen had strayed so far from Dante's original conception. 011 On the contrary, the mighty walls are more plausibly those of the Vatican. In this interpretation we may infer the providential, central disposition of Rome in the divine plan concerning the redemption of humanity via a universal monarchy. Rome and the pax Romana prepared the way for both the Coming of Christ and the institution of the Church of "quella Roma onde Cristo è romano". The noble castle could not have rested but on the greatness of an imperial, philosophical and Christian Rome. 012 Such a city may exist in Limbo because Dante could not tolerate the thought that so many geniuses of the past should be damned to Hell for eternity for the sheer fact that they had been born before the Advent of Christ. Together with so many other lost souls, Homer, Horace, Lucan, Electra, Aeneas, Caesar, etc. would never be able to climb the desirous mountain in Purgatory. What does "save" them, as it were, is precisely their superior intellect and magnanimity capable of building and enlightening such a great city. This, however, does not really compensate for what Dante regretfully knows these great spirits of the past would have been otherwise deserving of: seeing the holy face of Christ. Given, however, that Gillessen has also placed a baptistery in the noble city, it is not implausible that Gillessen actually shares Dante's belligerent regret for the plight of such great, deserving minds of the past. Through the sublime tragedy of the noble castle, Gillessen has wanted to praise the land which has become his second home. He has, furthermore, also sought to make his own art gnomic and didactic. In other words, he has wanted to teach us something more about these wise men and women of antiquity, to facilitate our understanding of their psychological and spiritual plight by bringing them closer to us geographically and architecturally. The exclusion of these "poor" souls of the past from blessed life was indeed a heavy limit to suffer. It had not, however, depended on them. Despite this limit they have managed to bring out their intrinsic nobility to do what Cicero thought to be the most noble and divine activity humanly possible - to found new states or defend those already founded. 013Gillessen was probably also thinking about another work by Dante, the Convivio or Banquet. In this minor work Dante invites every single person to pick up a book and read about philosophy and poetry. He, of course, was working within the paradigm according to which intellect goes hand in hand with faith as a "via a più inanzi andare". 014 If this is the case then Gillessen's praise takes on theological and moral tones. He carries of the Dantean urge and, via the noble Castle of this Umbrian Limbo, would like to induce all those who contemplate it to improve themselves, to strive to excel, to at least try to reach the stars.
| |||||||||||
|
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 | |||||||||||
| |
| © Edizioni Art Studio |  |
| |
