Category: Dante Urbinate

Known as the “Dante Urbinate”, the finest and most richly illustrated copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy ever produced, was made especially for the library of Federico da Montefeltro. It is an expression of the splendor and magnificence of the Duke. The manuscript is a masterpiece written on very fine parchment with the most extraordinary miniature illustrations.

Journey through the Dante Urbinate: Purgatory, Canto XXIV. Stairway to Heaven
1 October 2021   |    Dante Urbinate

The long journey through the Divine Comedy is about to reach its final stage, as the climb towards Paradise begins. We have arrived at the seventh Terrace, where souls are sent for the sin of…

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Journey through the Dante Urbinate: the binding
24 September 2021   |    Dante Urbinate

Binding that changed over the centuries  When Federico died in 1482, the Codex, still incomplete, was not yet bound together and it remained that way until Francesco Maria II della Rovere had the first binding done, in yellow…

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Journey through the Dante Urbinate: Purgatory, Canto XXIV. The Tree of Temperance
21 September 2021   |    Dante Urbinate

As the three poets continue their journey through Purgatory, they reach the sixth Terrace, where souls are punished for the sin of Gluttony. Statius, Virgil, and Dante look upon the Tree of Temperance, whose lower…

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Journey through the Dante Urbinate: Purgatory, Canto XXI. Statius
17 September 2021   |    Dante Urbinate

Virgil and Dante are walking along the foot of the mountain, to avoid stepping on the penitent souls of the greedy and other sinners, who lie along the path. Both of them turn their heads…

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Divine Tambourine
15 September 2021   |    Dante Urbinate

Illuminated initial "G" from Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia, Ms. Urb. lat. 365, f. 72v, 1478-1482, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

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Journey through the Dante Urbinate: Purgatory, Canto IX. Figures of humility
10 September 2021   |    Dante Urbinate

After following a narrow path, Dante and Virgil reach the first terrace overlooking Purgatory, where they find those who are punished for the sin of Pride. We meet them on the steep and inaccessible cliff…

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Journey through the Dante Urbinate: Purgatory, Canto IX. The gate to Purgatory
18 August 2021   |    Dante Urbinate

We have finally reached the gate of Purgatory. On the left, half-hidden by the rocky shore, we can barely see Saint Lucia who carries Dante’s sleeping body, followed by Virgil, from the Valley of the…

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Journey through the Dante Urbinate: Purgatory, Canto VI. Sordello
11 August 2021   |    Dante Urbinate

One of the key episodes of Dante's Purgatory is the encounter with Sordello, which is depicted in three separate vignettes. Dante and Virgil are still in the lower slopes of Purgatory, or Ante-Purgatory, at the…

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