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Dante and Beatrice
Ary Scheffer (Dutch (active in France), 1795–1858)
1851
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
180 x 99 cm (70 7/8 x 39 in.)
Credit Line
Seth K. Sweetser Fund
Accession Number21.1283
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Beatrice, the Italian poet Dante's beloved, serves as his guide through Paradise in his epic poem, The Divine Comedy (1321). The verses from the poem that Scheffer illustrates are written on the frame and translate as follows: "And, of a sudden, meseemed that day was added / unto day, as though he who hath the power, / had adorned heaven with a second sun. Beatrice was standing with her eyes all fixed / upon the eternal wheels, and I fixed my sight / removed from there above, on her."
InscriptionsLower left: Arij Scheffer
ProvenanceBy 1851, commissioned by and sold to Charles C. Perkins, Boston; by 1921, by inheritance to the Perkins's heirs; 1921, sold by Perkins' heirs to the MFA for $1600. (Accession Date: June 2, 1921)