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 Dante Alighieri, 700th Anniversary of Birth Scott 410-413 (1965) Dante Alighieri, commonly known simply as Dante, was a 13th and 14th century Italian poet, writer, and philosopher. His iconic work, The Divine Comedy, is viewed as one of the most important poems of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language. Vatican City has twice honored Dante through the issuance of postage stamps. The first four-stamp set was issued in 1965 (shown above) to commemorate the 700th anniversary of his birth in 1265. The single stamp from 2021, shown below along with the minisheet of four stamps, was released to remember the 700th anniversary of his death in 1321. The set from 1965 includes a portrait of Dante, as well as three stamps showing scenes from the Divine Comedy. A recent article by Adriana Azarian from the National Catholic Register introduces us to an artist who is attempting to create a new 40-panel series to portray the scenes from the Divine Comedy in a beautiful and realistic way. Eric Armusik is a “a classical figurative artist” who describes himself as “the type of painter that would paint something 400 years ago”. He lists some of the great artists of the Renaissance and Baroque eras as his inspirations: Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Tintoretto. This modern-day Catholic artist sums up his philosophy on art by saying: “Through art, you can break barriers with people because our faith is beautiful; it’s absolutely beautiful…I love the opportunities being in this kind of art. Every day is a blessing, waking up and being able to do it.”Working in his studio in Pennsylvania, Armusik embarked on his project to tell the story of Dante’s Divine Comedy in 2016. When completed, the work will include 40 panels, each measuring 4 by 5 feet. The goal will be to have the display serve as a traveling museum exhibition to allow as many people as possible to see what Armusik describes as “one of the most vibrant and picturesque stories probably of all time”. Due to copyright protections, we are not able to present images of Eric’s panels as part of this email. But, if you click on the link for the National Catholic Register article in the references or on the link to Erik’s website, you will find examples of the panels that have been completed (the website has images of fourteen of the panels completed to date). They are incredibly realistic and inspiring. Also, by clicking on the Page 2 button, the reader will be brought to a detailed account of Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy, taken from a Vatican Notes article that appeared in the May-June issue from 1967.   Dante Alighieri, 700th Anniversary of Death Stamp and Minisheet Scott 1775 and 1775M (2021) REFERENCES: |
