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a
Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)
Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca (c. 1855-60)
Oil on canvas, 11 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.
The Hyde Collection and Historic House
Glens Falls, New York USA
b
William Blake
The Circle Of the Lustful, Paolo and Francesca (1826-27)
engraving with drypoint (unfinished) (NGV 50a II)
Restrike, printed in 1968
Gift of Lessing J. Rosenwald, 1968
National Gallery of Victoria [Melbourne, Australia]
c
Alexandre Cabanel
Der Tod von Francesca da Rimini und Paolo Malatesta
Mort de Francesca de Rimini et de Paolo Malatesta (c. 1870)
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
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Grazie for the Dante lesson!
Francesca's dad Guido I made peace with the Malatesta family, and wanted to cement the alliance by marrying Francesca off to the Malatesta heir Gianciotto. Giancotto was a brave warrior, but also lame and deformed, and dad knew Francesca would never agree.
So dad tricked her with a proxy marriage in which she thought she was marrying Gianciotto's handsome brother Paulo. She found out she was really married to Gianciotto the day after the wedding. il Surpriso!
Paolo and Francesca fell in love, and Gianciotto caught them smooching and murdered them.
I still don't see why they had to spend Eternity in Hell. Dad and Gianciotto in Hell for all Eternity, roasted over flames like marshmallows -- this I get, for sure.
But the Rules for Heaven and Hell are pretty cruel and rigid if people like Francesca and Paolo end up tormented in Hell for Eternity. That sucks, and I'll tell that to any theologian who asks me.
I may be misremembering this, but I seem to recall that Dante locates theologians in the Lowest Circle of Hell.
2 comments:
My Dante wilth all the literary and historical explanations and comments is not where it is supposed to be. A full explanation of the Francesca Incident will follow tomorrow.
Nope, not all theologians are in the Lowest Circle of Hell. To which circle in Hell they go to depends on wether they were liars, cheaters, heretics or just plain bastards or whatever. This is primarily a literary invention by Dante and has nothing to to with the Catholic Churc as such (I mean the concentric rings in Hell where you are being sent to, not Hell as such), same goes for Purgatory.
Some of the clergymen I remember were bathed in pools of excrement, the popes got stuck in a very small tube, Mohammed was spilt in half (shht, dont tell anyone..) in the Heretics Pit and so forth.
Bertrand de Borne (mentioned in Barbara Tuchmans Distant Mirror) can be found in Canto XXVIII carrying his head as a lantern for being a warmonger etc.
Oh I could go on...
More tomorrow. Good grief, I have 3 different Dante translations and cant even find one at the moment ! Blast !
Orright, got it now, sorry for being late, but better late than never as they say in Hungary.
Remember the movie Se7en ? Thomas Aquinus and the seven original or mortal sins ?
One of them is Lust, Wollust as we say in german or just being plain horny without thinking of any consequences. The second circle in Hell according to Dante, Dido and Cleopatra are also in there, among many others. Can't tell you why Lust should be a sin but anyway.
Francesca was, as has been ponited out, forced to marry this Malatesta bloke who was a pretty mean ugly bastard. But she fell for his more cute brother Paolo.
Here things are getting a bit slippery, any divorce lawyer will agree I reckon. Adultery is, according to the Bible, a punishable sin, despite the fact that this was a forced marriage.
But this story or better said scandal (Tabloid Page One in 1294 or so) was well known to Dante and his contemporaries and he clearly shows his sympathy for the two, united forever in Hell, punished for Lust but rewarded by being together more or less and remembered untill now and probably forever through Dante.
As for Malatesta, killing his brother and his wife is also a sin and Francesca clearly tells Dante that he is scheduled to end up in Hell for killing his brother (similar to Cain and Abel), where he ends up exactly I would have to look up.
This is only one of the milder stories in the Divnine Comedy, there is lots of gore, blood and senseless violence, at least in Hell but repentece can be found in Purgatory, Philosophy and Theology in Paradise (yawn).
Enough Dante 101 for now I rekcon
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