Farinata deli Uberti predice a Dante l’esilio da Firenze
Commedia, Inferno, Canto X ..."Ma non cinquanta volte fia raccesa / la faccia de la donna che qui regge, / che tu saprai quanto quell'arte pesa." ...
Entering the infernal city of Dite, Virgil indicates to Dante, among the open and fiery sepulchres, the figure of Farinata Degli Uberti, who has just attracted Dante's attention, hearing his Tuscan idiom. Farinata, politically opposed to Dante's party, learns that his people, driven out of Florence, are no longer able to return. And predicts Dante's exile: Dante will then understand how difficult the "art" of resuming one's place in own homeland. Virgil remains extraneous ("the one who waits there") to the dialogue, where the soul of Cavalcante Cavalcanti also enters.
I have concentrated the illustration on verses from 79 to 81 (the prediction of exile) which touch Dante to the core, making him the true protagonist of the Canto. And I have deliberately excluded the figure of Virgil, not without first having tried to insert him, in vain, in the composition.
There is no ink here. Starting from the detailed pencil drawing, I preferred not to ink and immediately to paint by watercolour. Unsatisfactory outcome! I defined the drawing by watercolor and non-watercolor colored pencils. I wanted to get a dark atmosphere, as described by Dante. After an endless series of mistakes and corrections this is the result.
Graphite, watercolor, water-soluble and non-watersoluble colored pencils. Size 34 x 51
