Dante Flees the Wild Beasts and Meets Virgil 1824

Bartolomeo Pinelli made this drawing on paper sometime in the early 19th century. It shows a scene from Dante Alighieri's "Inferno". Pinelli was an Italian artist working in Rome. He specialized in prints and drawings representing Roman and Italian history, customs, and folklore. This drawing of Dante reflects a wider fascination in the Romantic era for epic poetry and a renewed sense of national cultural identity. Notice how the image creates meaning through classical visual codes – Dante and Virgil wear togas and laurel wreaths, referencing their status as great poets. The wild beasts that Dante flees, and the appearance of Virgil, all come from Dante's original text. Pinelli uses linear drawing to create movement and drama. To understand Pinelli's art better, we could look at the history of book illustration and the rise of nationalism in Europe. The meaning of art is contingent on its social and institutional context.