Dante and Beatrice
Dante and Beatrice, by Dutch painter Ary Scheffer (1795-1858), as seen on display at the Boston Museum of Fine Art.
Beatrice, the Italian poet Dante‘s beloved, serves as his guide through Paradise in his epic poem, The Devine Comedy (1321). The verses from the poem that Scheffer illustrates are written on the frame and translate as follows: “And, of a sudden, meseemed that day was added / unto day, as though he who hath the power, / had adorned heaven with a second sun. Beatrice was standing with her eyes fixed / upon the eternal wheels, and I fixed my sight / removed from there above, on her.”
Photograph by Metousiosis.
