Dante Offering the Divine Comedy to Homer
c. 1827; c.1864-65
Oil on 3 pieces of canvas, mounted on wood
This image is related to Ingres' monumental Apotheosis of Homer (1827), originally a ceiling painting in the Musée Charles X in the Louvre (now the Egyptian Rooms). Author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer was considered the father of all the arts, and is depicted in the large painting surrounded by his heirs in music, literature, theatre, sculpture and painting, from ancient times to the present. Ingres reworked the theme many times. Here, he focuses on the 14th-century Florentine poet Dante, author of The Divine Comedy. The artist brings Dante's hands, which hold his masterpiece, closer to his face, constraining the poet's festure of homage to Homer in an awkward but emotionally evocative way.
Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen (no. 248WH)
Dante Offering the Divine Comedy to Homer
c. 1827; c.1864-65
Oil on 3 pieces of canvas, mounted on wood
This image is related to Ingres' monumental Apotheosis of Homer (1827), originally a ceiling painting in the Musée Charles X in the Louvre (now the Egyptian Rooms). Author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer was considered the father of all the arts, and is depicted in the large painting surrounded by his heirs in music, literature, theatre, sculpture and painting, from ancient times to the present. Ingres reworked the theme many times. Here, he focuses on the 14th-century Florentine poet Dante, author of The Divine Comedy. The artist brings Dante's hands, which hold his masterpiece, closer to his face, constraining the poet's festure of homage to Homer in an awkward but emotionally evocative way.
Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen (no. 248WH)