Internet and Culture: Uffizi Gallery to provide open access to unique illustrations of Dante’s "Divine Comedy"

This year marks the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri's death in 1321. The Italian poet and philosopher is the famous author of the "Divine Comedy", a three-part epic poem describing his journey to hell, limbo and heaven.

To mark this important event, the Uffizi Gallery (Italy, Florence) presents an online collection of rarely seen drawings by the XVI century Renaissance artist Federico Zuccari illustrating Dante's poem.

"Until now these beautiful drawings have only been seen by a few scholars and displayed to the public only twice, and only in part", said Eike Schmidt, the Uffizi’s director. "Now they will be freely available, alongside a didactic-scientific comment".

Zuccari made these drawings during his stay in Spain in 1586-1588. The collection features 88 illustrations, including 28 images of hell, 49 pictures of limbo, and 11 of heaven. After Zuccari’s death in 1609, the drawings were kept by the noble Orsini family, the artist's customers, and then by the Medici family, and finally entered the Uffizi collection in 1738.