These are the six maps drawn by Michelangelo Caetani, featured in the book La materia della Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri dichiarata in VI tavole, Roma, 1855. (The Substance of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy Described in VI Plates). They’re the second edition of Caetani’s, and use the then-novel technology of chromolithography.
Caetani, aka the Duke of Sermoneta, designed his illustrations for students of the poet Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Artists like William Blake have imagines the story, split into three parts, of a pilgrim’s journey through hell, purgatory and heaven.
Depicting the geographic and cosmographic knowledge from Dante’s work will show us the poet’s after life.
Overview of the Divine Comedy, 1855(Plate I)
The Ordering of Hell, 1855 (Plate II)
Map of Hell and Dante’s itinerary, 1855 (Plate III)
Cross Section of Hell, 1855 (Plate IV)
The Ordering of Paradise, 1855 (Plate VI)
Michelangelo Caetani, The Divine Comedy Described in Six Plates 1855. Cover
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