Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
Customizable apparel companies like Redbubble, Zazzle, and teepublic feature countless Dante-related t-shirts and other items, like this “Dante’s Inferno Classic T-shirt“—featuring Botticelli’s portrait of the poet, along with the verse “Lasciate ogne speranza voi ch’intrate”—designed by user momulo-macheras on Redbubble.
“Europa Universalis 3 features advisors that the player hires to his court – the Philosopher’s portrait is modeled after Dante.” —Wikipedia
A group exhibition organized in Ravenna with the support of the Italian Consulate of Houston (TX) and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Los Angeles (CA) showcasing over 40 contemporary artists’ depictions of Dante. The exhibition is titled “Drawing Dante: Uno, nessuno e centomila volti: Retrospective group exhibition” by Dante Plus. A virtual tour can be seen on youtube here. There is also an instagram feed of the portraits.
Contributed by Kate McKee (Bowdoin ’22)
“I challenge this romantic notion of love. I see this Beatrice we know as an invention of Dante’s imagination. Here Dante, near death, is remembering the young beautiful Beatrice as he conjured her, never even having had an intimate conversation or ever having touched her. Did he regret having constrained himself by other peoples’ standards? Or did it bring him peace to keep her safely, purely, in his head? Did she know? Did she love him back? As he lay dying he imagines she is on the other side waiting to greet him. His isolated hand reaches out longingly but touches her only on the very pages that he wrote.” —Heidi Wastweet
Heidi Wastweet is a leading American Medallist and sculptor working in the San Francisco Bay area. In conjunction with a wide variety of private mints she has produced over 1000 coins, medals, and tokens since 1987. […]”.
—American Medallic Sculpture Association
Contributed by Ying Zheng
