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Vitale Sala (1803 – 1835)
Dante meets Paolo and Francesca, c. before 1823
Oil on canvas
height: 162.5 cm (63.9 in); width: 228.5 cm (89.9 in)
Brera Academy
Differently from the usual representations of the famous Dante episode, Sala, in a convulsive visionary representation of Dante's circle, chooses the moment in which the poet fainted, moved by the recollection of that damned love. A happy choice, this, which decreed the positive evaluation of the judging commission which, in fact, "had to praise (...) a richer and more expressive composition accompanied by much ease of execution". In the canvas, the violent expressionism of Giuseppe Bossi and the lesson of Palagi emerge, of whom Sala was a pupil at his workshop in via Camperio; as Sandra Pinto rightly pointed out, through Palagi, Sala probably had the opportunity to get to know the French paintings of "Ossianic" theme that the master had seen in Rome, and the successful aquatints dedicated to Dante themes made by Palagi himself. More on this painting
“Vitale Sala is not an exceptional painter but in 1823 he introduced in this canvas a fundamental element, namely the fact that Francesca physically supports Paolo, who covers his face as a sign of desperation. Francesca takes on a dominant role in the couple not only as a narrator, but also because she consoles Paolo. In the twenties the dominant role of Francesca will be met with extraordinary success” (Valivi. 2015). Sala chose the moment in which the poet fell unconscious, moved by the re-enactment of that damned love. More on this painting
There is very little information about the artist, Vitale Sala, who died at the age of thirty-two. Author of portraits, historical, literary and religious subjects between neoclassicism and romantic taste, Vitale Sala trained in Milan between the Brera Academy and Pelagio Palagi's studio. From 1816 to 1823 he participated in academic competitions and in 1823 was awarded with the work Dante meets Paolo e Francesca (Milan, Brera Academy).
He was mainly active as a frescante, working essentially between Piedmont and Lombardy: in Milan, in the church of San Vincenzo with Palagio Palagi, in the basilica of Santo Stefano and in the church of San Nazaro (1820-1830); in Novara, in the Cathedral (1831-1834); again with Pelagi, in the Savoy residences of Stupinigi and in Racconigi (1833-1835). More on Vitale Sala
JOHANNES JACOBUS MARIA DIT JAN BOGAERTS (BOIS-LE-DUC 1878 - 1962 WASSENAAR)
Paolo and Francesca, c. 1902-07
Oil on canvas
101 x 150 cm. (39 ¾ x 59 in.)
Private collection
Sold for EUR 50,000 in Jun 2019
Dante tells the story of Paolo and Francesca, lovers as famous and ill-fated as Hero and Leander, Eloise and Abelard or Romeo and Juliet.
Of great beauty, Francesca da Rimini was promised to Gianciotto Malatesta, a condottiere of noble blood, violent and lame. The union, intended to seal a political alliance between the two families, had to be by consent to facilitate the young girl's agreement. Paolo, Gianciotto's brother, was charged with bringing the news to Francesca who fell in love with him, believing he was meeting her future husband when in reality he was only the messenger. More on this painting
Johannes Jacobus Maria (Jan) Bogaerts ( 's-Hertogenbosch , 6 July 1878 - Wassenaar , 2 November 1962 ) was a Dutch painter.
Jan Bogaerts went to the Royal School for Useful and Visual Arts in 's-Hertogenbosch at the age of 15, and started working in Van Welie's studio. The symbolist style that his teacher painted would prove to be of great influence on his work. After four years, he continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp . In 1903, he returned to his birthplace, but the dreamy atmosphere that his paintings evoked did not catch on in 's-Hertogenbosch. In 1906, he went to work in Meerssen for a year . He painted many landscapes, parks and fairytale figures there. In 1918, he moved to Teteringen . His style gradually changed to realistic flower still lifes and still lifes of domestic objects. He had the talent to realistically depict characteristics such as shine, dullness, fluffiness or hardness. Yet his work still retains a dreamy atmosphere. With these realistic still lifes he is seen as a precursor of the hyperrealism movement . In 1922 he settled in Wassenaar and lived there until his death in 1962. He painted most of his still lifes there.
He was a member of, among others, the artist associations Pulchri Studio and Sint Lucas. More on Jan Bogaerts
Sir Frank Dicksee, P.R.A. (1853-1928)
Paolo and Francesca, c. 1894
Oil on canvas
52¼ x 52¼ in. (130 x 130 cm.)
Private collection
Sold for GBP 409,250 in Dec 2008
Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee KCVO PRA (27 November 1853 – 17 October 1928) was an English Victorian painter and illustrator, best known for his pictures of dramatic literary, historical, and legendary scenes. He also was a noted painter of portraits of fashionable women, which helped to bring him success in his own time.
Dicksee enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools in 1870 and achieved early success. He was elected to the Academy in 1891 and became its president in 1924.
He was knighted in 1925, and named to the Royal Victorian Order by King George V in 1927. In 1921 Dicksee exhibited at the first exhibition of the Society of Graphic Art in London. More on Sir Francis Bernard
Henry Treffry Dunn (1838–1899)
After Dante Gabriel Rossetti
The Theodore Watts-Dunton Folding Press Bed: Paolo and Francesca da Rimini, between circa 1896 and circa 1898
Oil on oak wood
height: 68.5 cm (26.9 in); width: 44.5 cm (17.5 in)
Wightwick Manor © National Trust
Henry Treffry Dunn (1838–1899) was Dante Gabriel Rossetti's assistant and a painter in his own right. Dunn's memoirs are a valuable source for the lives of the Pre-Raphaelites. He was paid to be Rossetti's factotum and to create copies of Rossetti's paintings. It has been said that the painting Lady Lilith in the Metropolitan Museum of Art was actually painted by Dunn and only "touched up" by Rossetti.
Dunn left Rossetti's house because he was owed his salary. After Rossetti died, Dunn received the money that was owing to him. He died while living with the poets Algernon Charles Swinburne and Theodore Watts-Dunton. More on Henry Treffry Dunn
Auguste Rodin 1840–1917
Le Baiser/ The Kiss
Pentelican marble
1822 × 1219 × 1530 mm, 3180 kg
Tate
The original title for Rodin's famous sculpture 'The Kiss' was 'Francesca da Rimini' before he was persuaded to change its name. The subject matter of this brave piece made it controversial for many years as Rodin intended to show that women were not just passive subjects when it came to sexual relations. He wanted to show that women also had sexual desires but the prevailing prudish attitudes of the time meant that his statue was often concealed from view.
There is one other aspect about this statue, the lips of the lovers are not actually meeting in a kiss ... almost as if he is implying that Francesca and Paolo were killed before they could consummate their love. More on this Sculpture
Auguste Rodin (born November 12, 1840, Paris, France—died November 17, 1917, Meudon) was a French sculptor of sumptuous bronze and marble figures, considered by some critics to be the greatest portraitist in the history of sculpture. His The Gates of Hell, commissioned in 1880 for the future Museum of the Decorative Arts in Paris, remained unfinished at his death but nonetheless resulted in two of Rodin’s most famous images: The Thinker and The Kiss. His portraits include monumental figures of Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. Rodin’s enduring popularity is evident by the numerous posthumous casts of his sculptures that continue to be made. More on Auguste Rodin
Joseph Anton Koch (1768–1839)
Paolo da Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini surprised by Gianciotto Malatesta, c. between 1804 and 1805
Pen, ink and watercolor on paper
height: 26 cm (10.2 in); width: 33.5 cm (13.1 in)
Thorvaldsen Museum
Joseph Anton Koch was born in Obergiblen, in the Lechtal in Tyrol, Austria, in 1768. He studied for two years at the Catholic seminary in Dillingen and with the court sculptor in Augsburg before moving to Stuttgart in 1785 to accept an opening at the Hohe Karlsschule, a strict military academy. There he became infused with the ideas of the French Revolution and began drawing caricatures. Fearing punishment, he left the school in 1791. He first went to Strasbourg and from there to Basel, where he drew additional political caricatures until 1793. In 1794 he was awarded a stipend for a three-year sojourn in Italy. He first headed for Naples and then settled in Rome, where he came into contact with other German painters, among them the Nazarenes. He produced numerous etchings, drawings and oil paintings. With only a few exceptions Koch spent the rest of his life in Rome. He attracted a circle of young German artists who imitated his painterly realism. He died in Rome in 1839. More on Joseph Anton Koch
Joseph Noel Paton
The Murder of Paolo and Francesca, c. before 1901
Oil on canvas
35.6 x 42.5 cm. (14 x 16.7 in.)
Private collection
Sir Joseph Noel Paton FRSA (13 December 1821 – 26 December 1901) was a Scottish artist, illustrator and sculptor. He was also a poet and had an interest in, and knowledge of, Scottish folklore and Celtic legends.
Paton attended Dunfermline School and then Dunfermline Art Academy, further enhancing the talents he had developed as a child. He followed the family trade by working as the design department director in a muslin factory for three years. Most of his life was spent in Scotland but he studied briefly at the Royal Academy, London in 1843. While studying in London, Paton met John Everett Millais, who asked him to join the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. More on Joseph Noel Paton
Gaetano Previati (1852–1920)
Paolo e Francesca, circa 1887
Oil on canvas
height: 98 cm (38.5 in); width: 227 cm (89.3 in)
Accademia Carrara
Gaetano Previati (Ferrara, 1852 – Lavagna, 1920) was a student at the Scuola di Belle Ari in Ferrara, where he followed the courses of Gerolamo Domenichini and Giovanni Pagliarini, he attended the atelier of Amos Cassioli in Florence, and then concluded his training at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Giuseppe Bertini between 1877 and 1880.
His academic manner that characterized the paintings of historical subjects of the 1870s and 1880s was gradually replaced by a looser and more luminous paintings. From 1889 his work evolved towards Divisionism, following his encounter with Vittore Grubicy. The filamentary and broken brushstrokes and the symbolic character of Maternità , presented amid controversy at the Brera Triennale in 1891, marked a turning point in his career and projected him into the European panorama. Alternating his activity as a painter with that of an illustrator, from 1899 Previati freed himself from economic worries. A rich exhibition season took him to Berlin in 1902, to Munich in 1905, and to Paris in 1907, taking part in the Salon des Peintres Divisionnistes Italiens organized by Grubicy himself. During these dates he spent long periods in Lavagna, where his painting turned to clear and luminous colors, always supported by a very personal use of chromatic decomposition. A theoretician of divisionism, he wrote in 1896 Memoirs on the technique of paintings, in 1905 The technique of painting, in 1906 Scientific principles of divisionism, in 1913 On painting. Technique and art . Distraught by a series of family bereavements, in 1917 he stopped painting. More on Gaetano Previati
Alexandre Cabanel
Mort de Francesca de Rimini et de Paolo Malatesta, c. 1870
Oil on canvas
H. 184,0 ; L. 255,0 cm.
Musée d’Orsay,
This painting exhibits all the typical elements of the classical tradition which Alexandre Cabanel stayed true to. The composition is scholarly, the painting smooth and the drawing precise; care has been taken over the iconographic details. The book that has dropped from Francesca's hands is a reminder that the lovers were reading Lancelot, a story of courtly love, at the time of the murder, while the murderer hidden behind a thick hanging is still clutching his bloody sword. More on this painting
Alexandre Cabanel (28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French painter born in Montpellier, Hérault. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. According to Diccionario Enciclopedico Salvat, Cabanel is the best representative of the L'art pompier and Napoleon III's preferred painter.
Cabanel entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris at the age of seventeen, and studied with François-Édouard Picot. He exhibited at the Paris Salon for the first time in 1844, and won the Prix de Rome scholarship in 1845 at the age of 22. Cabanel was elected a member of the Institute in 1863. He was appointed professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1864 and taught there until his death.
He was closely connected to the Paris Salon: "He was elected regularly to the Salon jury and his pupils could be counted by the hundred. Through them, Cabanel did more than any other artist of his generation to form the character of belle époque French painting". His refusal together with William-Adolphe Bouguereau to allow the impressionist painter Édouard Manet and many other painters to exhibit their work in the Salon of 1863 led to the establishment of the Salon des Refusés by the French government. Cabanel won the Grande Médaille d'Honneur at the Salons of 1865, 1867, and 1878. More on Alexandre Cabanel
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George Frederic Watts (1817–1904)
Paolo and Francesca, c. 1872–1875
Oil on canvas
H 152.4 x W 129.5 cm
Manchester Art Gallery
Scene from Dante's Inferno depicting Paolo and Francesca. Semi-naked Francesca, to the left, reclines in the arms of Paolo, to the right, who holds her in a protective embrace. He is naked but for grey robes swathed about his legs and over his head and shoulders. She rests her head on his right shoulder and they hold hands. They appear to be caught in a strong wind, which blows the drapery and her long blonde hair around them. The background is dark and rust-coloured, with heavy grey clouds. Two small figures in drapery appear suspended in the bottom right corner, the larger of which is the figure of Dante. He is in profile to the right, sobbing with his head in his hands. Two small figures in drapery appear suspended in the bottom right corner, the larger of which is the figure of Dante. He is in profile to the right, sobbing with his head in his hands. The other small figure, presumably Virgil, is drifting off, facing away from the viewer. . More on this painting
George Frederic Watts was born in Marylebone, London, the delicate son of a poor piano-maker. He showed promise very early, learning sculpture from the age of 10 with William Behnes and enrolling as a student at the Royal Academy at the age of 18. He came to the public eye with a drawing entitled Caractacus, which was entered for a competition to design murals for the new Houses of Parliament at Westminster in 1843. Watts won a first prize in the competition, which was intended to promote narrative paintings on patriotic subjects, appropriate to the nation's legislature. In the end Watts made little contribution to the Westminster decorations, but from it he conceived his vision of a building covered with murals representing the spiritual and social evolution of humanity.
Visiting Italy in the mid-1840s, Watts was inspired by Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel, but back in Britain he was unable to obtain a building in which to carry out his plan. In consequence most of his major works are conventional oil paintings, some of which were intended as studies for the House of Life. More on George Frederic Watts
Ary Scheffer, Dutch 1795 - 1858
Paolo and Francesca
Oil on panel
14 ¾ by 19 ½ in.; 37.5 by 49.5 cm
Private collection
Estimate for 20,000 - 30,000 USD in February 2025
In the first volume, Inferno, of The Divine Comedy, Dante and Virgil meet Francesca and her lover Paolo in the second circle of hell, reserved for the lustful.
The paintings show a scene from Dante's Inferno, of Dante and Virgil in the shadows to the right viewing the murdered lovers Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta in Hell. More on this painting
Ary Scheffer (10 February 1795 – 15 June 1858) was a Dutch-French Romantic painter. He was known mostly for his works based on literature, with paintings based on the works of Dante, Goethe, Lord Byron and Walter Scott, as well as religious subjects. He was also a prolific painter of portraits of famous and influential people in his lifetime. Politically, Scheffer had strong ties to King Louis Philippe I, having been employed as a teacher of the latter's children, which allowed him to live a life of luxury for many years until the French Revolution of 1848. More on Ary Scheffer
Jean-François Millet (1814–1875)
The Shooting Stars, c. 1847–1849
Oil on board
H 18.7 x W 34.5 cm
National Museum Cardiff
This cabinet painting of 1847–1849 depicts the lovers Paolo and Francesca, whose doomed souls are described in Dante's Inferno as 'across the sky in long procession trailing'. Millet may have been influenced by Ary Scheffer's academic painting of this subject (see above) which was well received at the 1835 Salon. More on this painting
This purely imaginary subject is unusual among Millet’s works. It refers to Dante’s Inferno which in one section describes the souls of the lustful being whirled endlessly around the skies of hell by a great gale. The epic poem was a common source of inspiration for artists and Millet here recognises this academic tradition. A later example is Auguste Rodin’s The Kiss. More on this painting
Jean-François Millet, (born October 4, 1814, Gruchy, near Gréville, France—died January 20, 1875, Barbizon), French painter renowned for his peasant subjects.
Millet spent his youth working on the land, but by the age of 19 he was studying art in Cherbourg. In 1837 he arrived in Paris and eventually enrolled in the studio of Paul Delaroche, where he seems to have remained until 1839.
After the rejection of one of his entries for the Salon of 1840, Millet returned to Cherbourg, where he remained during most of 1841, painting portraits. He achieved his first success in 1844 with The Milkmaid and a large pastel, The Riding Lesson, that has a sensual character typical of a large part of his production during the 1840s.
The peasant subjects, which from the early 1850s were to be Millet’s principal concern, made their first important appearance at the Salon of 1848 with The Winnower, later destroyed by fire. In 1849, after a period of great hardship, Millet left Paris to settle in Barbizon, a small hamlet in the forest of Fontainebleau. He continued to exhibit paintings of peasants, and, as a result, periodically faced the charge of being a socialist. Letters of the period defending Millet’s position underline the fundamentally classical nature of his approach to painting. More on Jean-François Millet
Giuseppe Frascheri
Meeting of Dante with Paolo and Francesca, c. 1850
Oil on canvas
123 x 81 cm;
Museo dArte di Palazzo Gavotti
Paolo and Francesca are encountered by Dante, who had actually known both Paolo and Francesca's brother, in the second circle of Hell, where carnal lovers are punished, and Francesca tells him how their reading of a romance about Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot had precipitated their affair. As she puts it in Laurence Binyon's translation,
One day together, for pastime, we read
Of Launcelot, and how Love held him in thrall.
We were alone, and without any dread.
Sometimes our eyes, at the word's secret call,
Met, and our cheeks a changing colour wore.
But it was one page only that did all.
When we read how that smile, so thirsted for,
Was kissed by such a lover, he that may
Never from me be separated more
All trembling kissed my mouth...
...We read no more that day.
Giuseppe Fraschieri (1808–1886) was an Italian painter.
He was born in Savona. He initially trained at the Accademia Ligustica of Genoa, but then, under a stipend of the city of Savona, he went to study in the studio of Giuseppe Bezzuoli in Florence. In 1829, his drawing of the invention of painting won a first prize at the Accademia of Florence. He moved back to Sestri Ponente after a few years in Florence, interrupted by stays in Rome and London. In 1838, he was named Academic of Merit and Regent of the Painting classes at the Ligurian Academy. In 1842, he became director. From 1852 to 1869, he taught painting and color. His style was Romantic and among his pupils were Giacomo Ulisse Borzino, genre painter and portraitist; Antonio Caorsi; Giuseppe Ferrari; and Biagio Torrielli. In London he gained a number of portrait commissions. He died in 1886 in Sestri Ponente, Genoa. More on Giuseppe Fraschieri
STYLE OF ARY SCHEFFER
DANTE AND VIRGIL MEET FRANCESCA DA RIMINI AND PAOLO MALATESTA
Oil on canvas
28 ½ by 40 in.; 72.4 by 101.5 cm
Private collection
Estimate for 10,000 - 15,000 USD in June 2020
In the Inferno, the couple are condemned to float in an eternal whirlwind, forever swept through the air just as they allowed themselves to be swept away by their passions. In this work, Dante calls out to the lovers who briefly pause before him. Francesca shares a few oblique details of her life and Dante remembers her and identifies the couple. Francesca shares with Dante and Virgil the story of the couple’s damnation, which affects Dante so strongly that he faints out of pity. More on this painting
Ary Scheffer (10 February 1795 – 15 June 1858) was a Dutch-French Romantic painter. He was known mostly for his works based on literature, with paintings based on the works of Dante, Goethe, Lord Byron and Walter Scott, as well as religious subjects. He was also a prolific painter of portraits of famous and influential people in his lifetime. Politically, Scheffer had strong ties to King Louis Philippe I, having been employed as a teacher of the latter's children, which allowed him to live a life of luxury for many years until the French Revolution of 1848. More on Ary Scheffer
Nicola Monti
The meeting of Paolo and Francesca, c. 1810
Oil painting on canvas
Uffizi Galleries
Here Monti paints his version of Ary Scheffer's painting shown above!
Nicola Mónti or Niccola Monti (August 28, 1780 - 1863) was an Italian painter, active in a neoclassical style, painting mainly historical subjects.
Monti was born in Pistoia, where his initial training was with Jean-Baptiste Frederic Desmarais. He moved to Florence where he worked for Pietro Benvenuti, and also attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. For the church of the Umilta in Pistoia, he painted a fresco depicting Cain cursed by God and San Felice exorcises an witch. He also worked in Poland and St Petersburg, Russia in 1818–1819.[2] He returned to Florence to fresco a hall in the Palazzo Pitti. For the basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, he frescoed a Resurrection of Lazarus. He painted a historical canvas depicting Michelangelo suspends work of the Sculpture of Moses, now in private collections. He published an autobiography titled Memorie Inutile (1860). He died in Cortona. More on Nicola Mónti
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