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Original Cover design by Francesco Filippini
wins Dante Society of London Art Competition
Francesco describes his inspiration:
"The idea for the design comes from the images made by Gustav Doré in the 1850s. I added the gems because the Divine Comedy is a veritable treasure trove: containing rubies, topazes, emeralds, sapphires, pearls and diamonds, as well as crystal, amber and glass. Most of the references to gems can be found in the Paradiso, the Canticle of Light, in which Dante makes abundant use of illumination on objects in the form of reflection, refraction and shadow to convey a variety of metaphors and concepts – pearls, the intellectual luster of the wise; rubies, souls of Christian warriors; diamonds, fortitude and steadfastness; and the sapphire, emblematic of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven.
I emphasized the magic which the gems would assume if we looked at the Divine Comedy in this manner. The central gem consists of a top and bottom pyramid (in crystallography, each is known as a dodecagonal pyramid) each having 12 facets, which are multiples of three, like the Holy Trinity, the terza rima structure of the Divine Comedy and the Apostles. The facets converge at the top and point toward the sky, the symbol of Paradise. The bottom pyramid points downward, which is the Inferno. They meet in the middle, the focal point where our gaze rests and signifies those living on Earth and whom some define as Purgatory.
The other gems are not perfectly spherical and have imperfections. This references the prevalent form of gem cutting in Dante’s era, when stones were buffed into a cabochon form (no facets). The faceting techniques just being introduced from the Far East would eventually become the norm. These irregular gems symbolize the souls who ascend to Heaven and therefore to perfection. But, like the souls, who are marked by original sin, these gems will never perfect spheres. It is these marks, however, which give them the characteristics which make them unique.
And so, it was Doré, in the Art Nouveau period, who was largely responsible for the imagery we associate with the Divine Comedy today. Prior to him, there had never been any representation in so clear a manner. The written word of the Divine Comedy, united with Doré’s visual representation is so potent that even today, if we imagine passages of the Bible which cite the Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, we instantly bring to mind the images which were described by these two artists."
