Portrait of Dante Alighieri
Date
1842
Sitter
Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321, Italian) , Poet
Creator
Giovanni Paolo Lasinio (1789 - 1855, Italian) , Printmaker
After
Seymour Stokes Kirkup (1788 - 1880, British) , Engraver
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 220mm
width (print): 135mm
width (print): 135mm
Subject
Description
Head and shoulders study of Dante in profile, facing to the left as viewed, wearing a Florentine cap. Originally sketched by Kirkup from a fresco at the Bargelo Chapel, Florence, Italy.
Plate from a grangerized copy of A history of the Royal Society, with memoirs of the Presidents…by Charles Richard Weld (London, John W. Parker, 1848). In this edition, the original two volumes were extended to eight volumes with the addition of extra-illustrations and documents, by Alexander Meyrick Broadley.
The engraving appears at pp.6/7, as Weld’s text notes the study of Dante’s poetry at the Platonic Academy in Florence, founded by the Medici family.
Inscribed below: ‘Ritratto di Dante Alighieri dipinto da Giotto nella Capella del Potesta a Firenze scoperto il 21 Luglio 1840, copiato prima della restaurazione chef u fatta nel 1841’ [Portrait of Dante Alighieri painted by Giotto in the Potesta Chapel in Florence discovered on 21 July 1840, copied before the restoration was made in 1841]. Inscribed below left: ‘Seymour Kirkup disegner’ and below right ‘Cav. Paolo Lasinio’. Between, a badge and motto referring to the Vernon family: the engraving was originally a frontispiece to Dante’s L’Inferno, printed by George John Warren Venables-Vernon, 5th Baron Vernon (1803-1866).
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet, author of the Divine Comedy.
Plate from a grangerized copy of A history of the Royal Society, with memoirs of the Presidents…by Charles Richard Weld (London, John W. Parker, 1848). In this edition, the original two volumes were extended to eight volumes with the addition of extra-illustrations and documents, by Alexander Meyrick Broadley.
The engraving appears at pp.6/7, as Weld’s text notes the study of Dante’s poetry at the Platonic Academy in Florence, founded by the Medici family.
Inscribed below: ‘Ritratto di Dante Alighieri dipinto da Giotto nella Capella del Potesta a Firenze scoperto il 21 Luglio 1840, copiato prima della restaurazione chef u fatta nel 1841’ [Portrait of Dante Alighieri painted by Giotto in the Potesta Chapel in Florence discovered on 21 July 1840, copied before the restoration was made in 1841]. Inscribed below left: ‘Seymour Kirkup disegner’ and below right ‘Cav. Paolo Lasinio’. Between, a badge and motto referring to the Vernon family: the engraving was originally a frontispiece to Dante’s L’Inferno, printed by George John Warren Venables-Vernon, 5th Baron Vernon (1803-1866).
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet, author of the Divine Comedy.
Object history
Print from Charles Richard Weld's A history of the Royal Society, vol. 1... (London, John W. Parker, 1848) grangerized by the writer and collector Alexander Meyrick Broadley (1847–1916) into 8 volumes, adding illustrative material and manuscript items to Weld's text. The books were initially owned by Ludwig Mond FRS (1839–1909), and according to an inscription by his son Robert Ludwig Mond FRS (1867–1938) they were intended for presentation to the Society. This eventually happened in late 1959, the donor being the politician Harry Nathan (1889–1963), Lord Nathan of Churt.
Related fellows
Charles Richard Weld (1813 - 1869, British) , Author
Associated place