From Dante to Dan Brown: How Artists Have Portrayed the Divine Comedy

THE GUARDIAN 
By Jonathon Jones

Holly roller...Dante Illuminating Florence with His Poem, painted by Domenico di Michelino. Photograph: Corbis

UNITED KINGDOM---Dan Brown's Inferno is doing wonders for Dante and the artists who have illustrated him. For instance, the other day a story in the Observer about the thriller writer's gift to tourism in Florence was illustrated with a painting by Domenico di Michelino in the city's cathedral. In this picture, which dates from around 1465, the medieval poet Dante Alighieri stands, a red-robed colossus, revealing his poem The Divine Comedy to the city of Florence which he dwarfs. Give yourself a treat this summer. Read Dan Brown; why not. But also read Allen Mandelbaum's Everyman translation of The Divine Comedy that is illustrated with Botticelli's wonderful drawings. [link]