The virtual exhibition displays the extraordinary “Dante Historiato” that Federico Zuccari (Sant’Angelo in Vado, 1540 - Ancona, 1609) completed between 1586 and 1588 in Spain. Together with his brother Taddeo, Federico is one of the leading lights of the Italian art of the late Mannerism. He painted the frescoes of Santa Maria del Fiore’s dome in Florence, and was highly praised by Cosimo I de’ Medici’s court where he embodied the new figure of artist /intellectual. In Spain, far from his homeland, he suffered for the frescoes that Philip II had commissioned from him for the Escurial did not please the King.

Zuccari's illustrations of the Divine Comedy are radically different from other ones illustrations carried out until the second half of the 19th century. In fact, for the first five hundred years after the composition of the Poem, its visual success was generally limited to occasional single works inspired by it. The first great illustrative cycle is the famous one by Sandro Botticelli, whose 92 surviving drawings were published for the first time in 1887. Those by Federico Zuccari were executed almost a century later with the same aim: the 88 sheets are in fact a true historiated cycle that goes along Dante's verses. This is one of the most impressive and complete illustrative campaigns of the Comedy ever carried out, also compared to the series of 136 illustrations that Gustave Doré executed between 1861 (Inferno) and 1868 (Purgatory and Paradise) in the renowned edition that became iconic as to the construction of many visual stereotypes up to the present day.

Federico Zuccari kept his Dante drawings with him throughout his life. In fact, we find them listed in the artist's post-mortem inventory of 1609. It seems that they were subsequently purchased by one of the sons of the Duke of Bracciano, perhaps Vicinio II Orsini, who probably commissioned their binding in a single volume. The entire collection entered the Uffizi in August 1738 thanks to a donation by Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, as stated in the manuscript: «This codex was donated with other things to the Gallery by Anna Luisa of Tuscany, wife of Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine».

Eike D. Schmidt

Copia da Federico Zuccari

Ritratto di Dante Aligheri

1738/ 1753

GDSU inv. 14287 F

"If e'er it happen that the Poem Sacred,
To which both heaven and earth have set their hand,
So that it many a year hath made me lean, 

O'ercome the cruelty that bars me out
From the fair sheepfold, where a lamb I slumbered,
An enemy to the wolves that war upon it,

With other voice forthwith, with other fleece
Poet will I return, and at my font
Baptismal will I take the laurel crown;

Because into the Faith that maketh known
All souls to God there entered I,
and then Peter for her sake thus my brow encircled."

The 28 drawings dedicated to the representation of Dante's Inferno are mostly carried out by alternating the use of red and black pencils. This two-color graphic technique allows Federico Zuccari, on the one hand, to clearly highlight the figures from the background, and, on the other, to masterly translate the violent contrasts of light and shadow that characterises the appalling infernal landscape. The sheets, all of similar dimensions (approximately 440 x 590 mm), were bound inside a seventeenth-century volume so that each illustration had, on the page to its left, the corresponding verses and commentary. The complex interweaving of words and images was also enriched by the cartouches depicted in the drawings, which clarified the meaning of some details as well as some narrative passages.

The illustrations of the Inferno's topography draw inspiration from the tradition of cosmographic and geographical studies started by Filippo Brunelleschi, who reconstructed the topography of Dante's places by using the instruments of Ptolemaic astronomy.

Inferno, Canto I

GDSU 3474 F

"Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost

Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear."

Inferno, Canto III

GDSU inv. 3475 F

Through me the way is to the city dolent;
Through me the way is to eternal dole;
Through me the way among the people lost

Justice incited my sublime Creator;
Created me divine Omnipotence,
The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.

Before me there were no created things,
Only eterne, and I eternal last.
All hope abandon, ye who enter in!

These miscreants, who never were alive;
who live withouten infamy or praise.

Inferno, Canto III

GDSU inv. 3476 F

"Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede,
Beckoning to them, collects them all together,
Beats with his oar whoever lags behind."

Inferno, Canto IV, vv. 24-27

GDSU inv. 3477 F

"The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss

There, as it seemed to me from listening,
Were lamentations none, but only sighs,
That tremble made the everlasting air.

And this arose from sorrow without torment,
Which the crowds had, that many were and great,
Of infants and of women and of men."

Limbo
The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss
There, as it seemed to me from listening,
Were lamentations none, but only sighs,
That tremble made the everlasting air.

Inferno, Canto IV

GDSU inv. 3478 F

"We came unto a noble castle's foot.
Seven times encompassed with lofty walls,
Defended round by a fair rivulet;
This we passed over even as firm ground;
Through portals seven I entered with these Sages"

The City of the Heroes. Rivulet.
We came unto a noble castle's foot.
Seven times encompassed with lofty walls,
Defended round by a fair rivulet ;
This we passed over even as firm ground ;
Through portals seven I entered with these Sages
We came into a meadow of fresh verdure

Inferno, Canto IV

GDSU inv. 3479 F

"We came into a meadow of fresh verdure.

People were there with solemn eyes and slow,
Of great authority in their countenance;
They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices.

Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side
Into an opening luminous and lofty,
So that they all of them were visible."

There opposite, upon the green enamel.
Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits.
Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted.
I saw Electra with companions many,
'Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas,
Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes;
I saw Camilla and Penthesilea
On the other side, and saw the King Latinus,
Who with Lavinia his daughter sat;
I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth,
Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia,
And saw alone, apart, the Saladin.
When I had lifted up my brows a little,
The Master I beheld of those who know,
Sit with his philosophic family.
All gaze upon him, and all do him honour.
There I beheld both Socrates and Plato,
Who nearer him before the others stand;
Democritus, who puts the world on chance,
Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,
Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus;
Of qualities I saw the good collector,
Hight Dioscorides; and Orpheus saw I,
Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca.

Inferno, Canto V

GDSU inv. 3480 F

"There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls;
Examines the transgressions at the entrance;
Judges, and sends according as he girds him,

I say, that when the spirit evil-born
Cometh before him, wholly it confesses;
And this discriminator of transgressions

Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it;
Girds himself with his tail as many times
As grades he wishes it should be thrust down."

The lustful tormented
by the cruelest wind
that hurtles them through
a black and gloomy
air 

Inferno, Canti V-VI

GDSU, inv. 3481 F

"Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth,
With his three gullets like a dog is barking
Over the people that are there submerged.

Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black.
And belly large, and armed with claws his hands ;
He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them"

Inferno, Canto VII

GDSU inv. 3482 F

"Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!"
Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began;
And that benignant Sage, who all things knew.

Said, to encourage me : "Let not thy fear
Harm thee; for any power that he may have
Shall not prevent thy going down this crag."

Inferno, Canto VII

GDSU inv. 3483 F

"And I, who stood intent upon beholding.
Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon, hc
All of them naked and with angry look.

They smote each other not alone with hands,
But with the head and with the breast and feet.
Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth." 

Inferno, Canto VIII

GDSU inv. 3484 F

"Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain
For this once," said my Lord;" thou shalt not have us 
Longer than in the passing of the slough." 

 Inferno, Canto IX

GDSU inv. 3485 F

"Said unto me: "Behold the fierce Erinnys.
This is Megaera, on the left-hand side;
She who is weeping on the right, Alecto;
Tisiphone is between;" and then was silent.

Each one her breast was rending with her nails;
They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud, so
That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet.

"Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!"
All shouted looking down; "in evil hour
Avenged we not on Theseus his assault!" 

Inferno, Canto IX

GDSU inv. 3486 F

"Eve as the frogs before the hostile serpent
Across the water scatter all abroad.
Until each one is huddled in the earth.

More than a thousand ruined souls I saw,
Thus fleeing from before one who on foot
Was passing o'er the Styx with soles unwet.

From off his face he fanned that unctuous air,
Waving his left hand oft in front of him,
And only with that anguish seemed he weary.

Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he,
And to the Master turned ; and he made sign
That I should quiet stand, and bow before him.

Ah! how disdamful he appeared to me!
He reached the gate, and with a little rod
He opened it, for there was no resistance."

Inferno, Canto X

GDSU inv. 3487 F

"O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire
Goest alive, thus speaking modestly,
Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place.

Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest
A native of that noble fatherland.
To which perhaps I too molestful was.

"Upon a sudden issued forth this sound
From out one of the tombs; wherefore I pressed,
Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader.

And unto me he said: "Turn thee; what dost thou?
Behold there Farinata who has risen;
From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him"

Inferno, Canti XI-XII

GDSU inv. 3488 F

"I saw an ample moat bent like a bow,
As one which all the plain encompasses.
Conformable to what my Guide had said.

And between this and the embankment's foot ss
Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows,
As in the world they used the chase to follow.

Beholding us descend, each one stood still,
And from the squadron three detached themselves,
With bows and arrows in advance selected;

And from afar one cried : "Unto what torment
Come ye, who down the hillside are descending?
Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow." 

Inferno, Canto XIII

GDSU, inv. 3489 F

"Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward,
And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn;
And the tmnk cried, "Why dost thou mangle me?

After it had become embrowned with blood.
It recommenced its cry: "Why dost thou rend me?
Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever?

Men once we were, and now are changed to trees;
Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful,
Even if the souls of serpents we had been

As out of a green brand, that is on fire
At one of the ends, and from the other drips
And hisses with the wind that is escaping;

So from that splinter issued forth together
Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip
Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid."

Inferno, Canti XIV-XV

GDSU inv. 3490 F

"Clearly to manifest these novel things,
I say that we arrived upon a plain,
Which from its bed rejecteth every plant;

The dolorous forest is a garland to it
All round about, as the sad moat to that;
There close upon the edge we stayed our feet

The soil was of an arid and thick sand,
Not of another fashion made than that
Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed.

Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou
By each one to be dreaded, who doth read
That which was manifest unto mine eyes!"

Inferno, Canti XV-XVII

GDSU inv. 3491 F

"Now was I where was heard the reverberation
Of water falling into the next round,
Like to that humming which the beehives make.

When shadows three together started forth,
Running, from out a company that passed
Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom.

Towards us came they, and each one cried out:
Stop, thou; for by thy garb to us thou seemest
To be some one of our depraved city.

Ah me ! what wounds I saw upon their limbs,
Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in!
It pains me still but to remember it."

Inferno, Canto XVIII

GDSU inv. 3492 F

"There is a place in Hell called Malebolge,
Wholly of stone and of an iron colour,
As is the circle that around it turns.

Right in the middle of the field malign
There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep,
Of which its place the structure will recount".

Inferno, Canti XVIII-XIX

GDSU inv. 3493 F

"We were already where the narrow path
Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms
Of that a buttress for another arch.

Thence we heard people, who are making moan
In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles,
And with their palms beating upon themselves.

The margins were incrusted with a mould
By exhalation from below, that sticks there,
And with the eyes and nostrils wages war."

Inferno, Canti XX-XXI

GDSU inv. 3494 F

"And I beheld behind us a black devil.
Running along upon the crag, approach.

Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect!
And how he seemed to me in action ruthless.
With open wings and light upon his feet!

His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and high,
A sinner did encumber with both haunches,
And he held clutched the sinews of the feet."

Inferno, Canti XXI-XXIII

GDSU inv. 3495 F

"We went upon our way with the ten demons:
Ah, savage company! but in the church
With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons!"

Barterers whose punishment is to stay in boiling pitch

Inferno, Canti XXIII-XXIV

GDSU inv. 3496 F

"A painted people there below we found.
Who went about with footsteps very slow.
Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished.

They had on mantles with the hoods low down
Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut
That in Cologne they for the monks are made."

Title block by Zuccari: Hypocrites. Their punishment is / to go about with extremely heavy mantles / and leaden hoods on 

Inferno, Canti XXIV-XXVI

GDSU inv. 3497 F

"The Guide thereafter asked him who he was;
Whence he replied: "I rained from Tuscany
A short time since into this cruel gorge.

A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me.
Even as the mule I was ; I'm Vanni Fucci,
Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den"." 

Inferno, Canti XXVI-XXVIII

GDSU inv. 3498 F

"As many as the hind (who on the hill
Rests at the time when he who lights the world
His countenance keeps least concealed from us,

While as the fly gives place unto the gnat)
Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley.
Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage;

With flames as manifold resplendent all
Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware
As soon as I was where the depth appeared."

Inferno, Canti XXIX-XXXI

GDSU inv. 3499 F

"When we were now right over the last cloister
Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers
Could manifest themselves unto our sight,

Divers lamentings pierced me through and through.
Which with compassion had their arrows barbed,
Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands.

What pain would be, if from the hospitals
Of Valdichiana, 'twixt July and September,
And of Maremma and Sardinia

All the diseases in one moat were gathered,
Such was it here, and such a stench came from it
As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue."

Inferno, Canti XXXI-XXXII

GDSU inv. 3500 F

"As, when the fog is vanishing away,
Little by little doth the sight refigure
Whate'er the mist that crowds the air conceals.

So, piercing through the dense and darksome air.
More and more near approaching tow'rd the verge,
My error fled, and fear came over me;

Because as on its circular parapets
Montereggione crowns itself with towers,
E'en thus the margin which surrounds the well

With one half of their bodies turreted
The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces
E'en now from out the heavens when he thunders."

Inferno, Canti XXXII-XXXIV

GDSU inv. 3501 F

English version is upcoming.

"How frozen I became and powerless then,
Ask it not. Reader, for I write it not,
Because all language would be insufficient.

I did not die, and I alive remained not;
Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit,
What I became, being of both deprived.

The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous
From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice;
And better with a giant I compare

Than do the giants with those arms of his;
Consider now how great must be that whole,
Which unto such a part conforms itself."