Sandro Botticelli

Inferno XV, c.1480s, Tempera and ink on parchment; Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City, Reg. lat. 1896, fol. 99r., ©️ 2024 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

A Sympathetic Gaze

Commentary by Albert Godetzky

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In the 1480s, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici commissioned Sandro Botticelli to illustrate Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia. Canto 15 of the epic poem introduces the Sodomites tormented in hell by burning sands. Accordingly, Botticelli’s naked figures writhe around in a fiery, undulating landscape. Their punishment recalls the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, when fire and brimstone scorched the cities and their inhabitants (Genesis 19:24–25).

Surprisingly, unlike the inhabitants of Sodom struck with blindness on account of their ‘wicked’ acts (vv.7–11), the condemned in Dante’s telling retain their eyesight: ‘each | stared steadily at us’ (Inferno 15.17–18). Inspecting Botticelli’s illustration closely, it becomes clear that the artist has depicted the Sodomites with active eyes, their pupils darting to and fro. This departure from Scripture sets up an unexpected turn in the narrative.

Dante appears three times in this scene, depicted twice in a red robe and once in a colourless outline left unfinished by Botticelli. Walking along the stony bank of the bloody Phlegethon river behind Virgil, his guide, the middle figure of Dante bends down to converse with one of the shades who has recognized him. This is Brunetto Latini, his one-time teacher who had later been exiled from Florence as a result of the factionalism between groups known as the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, a fate that was also to befall Dante himself. The two men revered one another deeply. In words that echo Luke 6:40 (‘A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher’), Brunetto warns Dante to stay alert and avoid those who might seek to sully his reputation through their jealousy: ‘The world has long since called them blind, a people | presumptuous, avaricious, envious’ (Inferno 15.67–68).

In offering this guidance, Brunetto reveals his remarkably clear, seer-like vision. This vision is all the more remarkable given he is amongst the Sodomites, supposedly blind to God and the laws of nature. While the social convention of his time may have swayed Dante to situate his mentor, who is believed to have been homosexual, in the fiery turmoil, Brunetto’s punishment can also been seen as the result of an unjust and ignorant power. Dante thus encourages us to reflect on our own ‘blindness’ and condemnation of those who see better than we do: we who ‘fail to see the plank in [our] own eye’ (Luke 6:42).

 

References

Barolini, Teodolinda. 2018. ‘Inferno 15: Follow Your Star’, Commento Baroliniano, Digital Dante (New York: Columbia University Libraries). Available at https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-15/ [accessed 21 November 2023]

Schulze Altcappenberg, Hein-Th, et al. 2000. Sandro Botticelli: The Drawings for Dante’s Divine Comedy (London: Thames & Hudson)

See full exhibition for Matthew 15:12–14; Luke 6:39–40

Matthew 15:12–14; Luke 6:39–40

Revised Standard Version

Matthew 15

12Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13He answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Luke 6

39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher.