The volume reproduces, for the first time, all of the Dante illustrations by John Flaxman conserved in notebooks held by English and American museums.
[Dante. The Divine Comedy illustrated by Flaxman]. The volume reproduces, for the first time, all of the Dante illustrations by John Flaxman conserved in notebooks held by English and American museums, many of which have never been published: the tribute of a great English artist to the work which is the very symbol of Italian culture. The great English draftsman (1755-1826) illustrated all 100 cantos of the Divine Comedy, selecting one episode for each. The book devotes a two-page spread to each canto, with the definitive etching, the preparatory studies and variations, the transcription of Dante’s verses made by Flaxman himself in his drawings, and critical annotations. The texts that accompany the illustrations and the revealing introductory essay are by Francesca Salvadori, a young scholar and discoverer of the notebooks of Flaxman. The book also contains a preface by Carlo Ossola and an introduction by the English scholar David Bindman. A work of great interest, charm and novelty for lovers of art and literature.