Skip to main content

Archive of the Limited Edition of Dante's Inferno: Canto II/2 / Phillips, Tom., 1983

 Item
Identifier: CC-54524-989989

  • Staff Only
  • Please navigate to collection organization to place requests.

Scope and Contents

11/2 Phillips comments: The lily, as well as being the emblem of Dante's native city, is the flower of the Annunciation, and a traditional attribute of the Virgin Mary. The speech of Beatrice to Virgil, entrusting him with the mission of saving his fellow poet, is a cryptic parallel to the Annunciation: thus Beatrice (also of course a Florentine) is associated with the Virgin Mary and this is the spiritual counterpart of her role in Dante's life, as the Lady of his love and art. The enclosure, here represented as a lawn surrounded by a triangle of walls, is part of the standard iconography of the Annunciation (hortus conclusus) as is the locked entranceway which symbolises virginity. The three steps prefigure those of the Angel in Purgatorio. In the sky above are the nine circles of Paradise of which the nine rings of Hell are the infernal counterparts. The lily itself is constructed (cf. notes to the frontispiece) according to the Golden Section and derives from a wall-painting stencil purchased in Florence. The surrounding text alludes to the three ladies in heaven and quotes the Ave Maria as the most famous of Dante's Canzone (Donne Ch'avete. . `Ladies who have high sense of love, I need to tell you of my own beloved.'). -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates

  • Creation: 1983

Creator

Extent

0 See container summary (21 prints (silkscreen) in clamshell box (museum board, paper covered, lithograph)) ; prints 42 x 32 cm or smaller, in box 44 x 35 x 8 cm

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Physical Location

1904 shelf Phillips Dante Inferno Archive box 1

Custodial History

The Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, on loan from Ruth and Marvin A. Sackner and the Sackner Family Partnership.

General

Published: London, England : Talfourd Press. Signed by: TP (l.r.stages:1,3,5,8-13,15,19). Nationality of creator: British. General: Proof copy of print, number 2. General: Added by: BARB; updated by: MARVIN.

Repository Details

Part of the The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry Repository

Contact:
125 W. Washington St.
Main Library
Iowa City Iowa 52242 United States
319-335-5921