Giovita Garavaglia
Italian, 1790–1835
after Giuseppe Bossi
Italian, 1777–1815
Dante Alighieri, 1812
Engraving on paper
Gift of Mrs. William Reed Thompson (Mary Thaw, class of 1877), 1938.1.10
Born in late-medieval Florence on the cusp of the Italian Renaissance, Dante Alighieri is particularly well known for his complex and visionary poem Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy). The work is divided into three sections entitled Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise, featuring imagery so powerful that they profoundly shaped subsequent descriptions of the afterlife in Italy, Europe, and beyond. Dante’s subsequent reputation as one of the most celebrated poets of all time is evident in the inclusion of this portrait in Vite e Ritratti di Illustri Italiani (Lives and Portraits of Illustrious Italians), published in Padua by Nicolò Bettoni in 1812. Dante’s popular likeness featuring a strong profile and creased visage—was well established by the time this work appeared. .
