THE PERSONAL CHARACTER OF DANTE.1 A CCORDING to one of the historians of Florence there was to be found among her records of the last years of the thirteenth century a decree, the equal of which in loftiness and significance of expression few cities could boast: "Whereas it is the highest concern of a people of illustrious origin so to proceed in their affairs that men may perceive from their works that their designs are at once wise and magnanimous, it is therefore ordered that Arnolfo, architect of our commune, prepare the model or plan for the rebuilding of Santa Reparata, with such supreme and lavish magnificence that neither the industry nor the capacity of man shall be able to devise anything more grand or more beautiful; inasmuch as the most judicious in this city have declared and advised in public and private conferences that no work of the commune should be undertaken, unless the design be to make it correspondent with a heart which is of the greatest nature, because composed of the spirit of many citizens concordant in one single will." 2 Although the decree be apocryphal, this was the spirit which expressed itself in the sublime works that fill Florence to-day with rich associations. Italy was flushed with the intense intellectual excitement of the century. After a long period of dormant thought, France had felt the first impulse toward self-expression. By the 1 The texts used have been Scartazzini's for the Divina Commedia, and Fraticelli's for the Opere Minori. Where a translation has been quoted, that of the Divine Comedy by Longfellow has been used; that of the New Life by Norton. 2 Del Migliore, Firenze, Citta Nobilissima, 1684, p. 6; translated in Norton's "Church Building in the Middle Ages,” p. 189. superb proportions of her architecture and poetry, and by her delicate adaptation of language to the expression of sentiment, she led the way in a movement which Sicily was not slow to follow. From Sicily the impulse extended to Italy, and filled Florence more than all other cities with the spirit of culture. Under her fostering influences Arnolfo reared the Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo; Cimabue called to life the dead art of painting, and amid trumpets and garlands the Florentines, quick to respond to whatever appealed to them as beautiful, adorned their S. Maria Novella with the world-known Madonna. Giotto created his campanile, "the lily of Florence blossoming in stone," and proved himself even greater than his master in the art of painting: "Credette Cimabue nella pintura Tener lo campo, ed ora ha Giotto il grido, Sì che la fama di colui è oscura." 1 But the work of Giotto which is of paramount interest to us is to be found in the chapel of the Palace of the Podestà. Here he decorated the altar-wall with a painting prompted by religious sentiment and Florentine pride. The head of Christ is designed above, and beneath this the escutcheon of Florence with angels supporting it; attendant saints are on the right and left, in front of whom stand distinguished civil authorities, and among those who lead the company is Dante. Even this figure did not save the composition from a fate kindred to that of many others of Florence's noblest works of art. At the period when she was lost to a sense of her past greatness, the Palace of the Podestà was used as a jail, and a sweep of the whitewash-brush effaced Giotto's work. Here it lay hidden until 1841, when the manifold efforts for its recovery made by lovers of Dante were rewarded, and under the care of Marini, a Florentine painter, the whitewash was removed from the fresco, and the portrait revealed in a comparatively good state of preser 1 Purgatorio, xi. 94. vation. Fortunately, before Marini exercised his skill in retouching the portions that were defective, a drawing was made of the original by Mr. Kirkup, which was afterwards reproduced by the Arundel Society. It is a portrait of peculiar interest, not merely from its historic value as the only known likeness of Dante taken in his lifetime, but from the sentiment always arising from the immediate association of two names of genius. That friendship guided the artist's hand, and sympathy prompted a clear interpretation of the poet's spirit, enhances its beauty and importance. It is the face of the Dante of the New Life, in the season of his youthful buoyancy and enthusiasm, with his strength untried by the struggle with life, and his joy unshadowed by the bitter prophecy: "Tu lascerai ogni cosa diletta An atmosphere of tender simplicity rests about the face, the simplicity that pervades the story of his love, joined to the manliness that exalts his confession. There is the poise of the head that marks the scholar, while the soft but not effeminate lines about the mouth betray the poet. Above all, there is the sweetness of the lover enthralled by the eyes of the lady whose glance made gentle those whom she regarded; together with a suggestion of the seriousness inherent in a nature that could grow to see in itself the whole human race, and in Beatrice's eyes the lode-star drawing man to God through the revelation of His will and truth. It is a figure that the imagination can readily picture moving through the gay streets of Florence. For although within twenty years, party strife had four times caused the 1 Paradiso, xvii. 55. 2 Cf. Napier, Florentine History, Bk. I., Misc. Chap. for a description of the Loggia: "chess, draughts, and dice with other amusements were carried on in sight of the public, and many had an open space in front of their houses where they exercised their horses. expulsion in large numbers of leading persons, still "the citizens used to solace themselves with continual repasts, social meetings, and divers amusements; the city was in profound peace, and a constantly increasing prosperity enlivened the whole nation; each year in the beginning of May whole companies of either sex were to be seen in all parts of the metropolis with music, dancings, and pastimes." 1 The faults and virtues of Florence were those of youth, with its delightful fervor and sincere exaggeration. It would have been most unnatural if a man of Dante's peculiarly absorptive nature had not shared in the exuberant spirit with which the city was rife: By virtue of that very power of assimilating surrounding influences his individuality was intensified. To appreciate his superiority to his predecessors and contemporaries, it is only necessary to compare his sonnets to his lady with those of the best of his forerunners, Guido Guinicelli and Guido Cavalcanti. In some instances he may have derived his ideas from their poems; as, for example, it is easy to see that Guido Guinicelli's "Io vo del ver la mia donna lodare," may have given Dante a hint for his "Negli occhi porta la mia donna Amore; "3 but between the genius of Guido Cavalcanti and that of Dante there was a great gulf.4 Even were there no subtler indications of the character of the writer, the delicacy of expression and the confiding frankness with which he tells his story of the New Life would give more than a mere suggestion of the quality of his imagination. In a greater degree, perhaps, than any other work of 1 Napier, Florentine History, Book i. p. 574; cf. Giov. Villani, Cronica, vii. 132, viii. 39. 2 Paradiso, v. 98. Cf. also V. N., xxxvi., xxxvii. 8 V. N., Son. xi. 4 Cf. Cavalcanti's Sonnet, "Chi è questa che vien ch' ogn' uom la mira,” and Dante's "Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare." V. N. Son. xv. |