PURGATORIO, Episode 76. Art, Creativity, And The False Promise Of The New: PURGATORIO, Canto X, Lines 28 - 45

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Dante the pilgrim and (shockingly!) Virgil have made it to the first terrace of Purgatory proper, although they (and we?) are still not sure exactly what's going on. All we know is that the terrace has gorgeous carvings in the white marble.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the first of these carvings that will help us understand the penance ahead--and more importantly, help us understand Dante's theory of art, developed over the central cantos of PURGATORIO.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:18] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto X, lines 28 - 45. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please scroll down this page.

[03:18] Who was Polykleitos? What does Dante know of him? And how does this artist relate to "nature," the "child" of God.

[06:13] The first image in the marble is revealed through periphrasis, despite its inherent realism.

[11:24] "Ave" is an inversion of "Eva"--or Eve, from the garden of Eden. The fall in Genesis and the consequence of death lie at the bottom of this passage.

[14:42] Dante appears to favor very realistic art.

[15:50] The art here is rather spare--or at least sparely described.

[17:03] Dante appears to favor didactic (or moral) art.

[17:46] Dante's theory of art is that creativity builds off what's come before.

[22:30] To put "historical" matter in an imaginative space is to compromise the historicity of the matter.

[25:57] The unknowable is embellished by art, a most human gesture.

[28:38] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto X, lines 28 - 45.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto X, Lines 28 – 45

We’d hardly set our feet on the cornice

When I realized the encircling embankment

Was so steep, it was impossible to climb.

It was made out of white marble and embellished

With such carvings! Not only Polykleitos but nature herself

Would have been put to scorn there.

The angel who came to earth with the proclamation of peace,

Tearfully lamented for so many years,

The very decree that opened heaven itself after the long prohibition,

Appeared in the carving before us with such veracity

And with such a gentle demeanor

That it didn’t seem in the least like a figure that could keep silent.

You’d have sworn he was saying Ave!

Since she, too, was pictured there,

She who turned the key to open the way to the love on high.

What’s more, her features were clearly imprinted

With Ecce Ancilla Dei.

You’d have thought the whole thing was stamped into wax.