Dante Alighieri, his life and works . ated his soul and gave all his futureyears. It is the same face with that of the mask ; but theone is the face of a youth, with all triumphant splendouron his brow, the other of a man, burdened with the dustand injury of age. The forms and features are alike,but as to the later face, That time of year thou mayst in it beholdWhen yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs which shake against the ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. The face of the youth is grave, as with the shadow of dis-tant sorrow; the face of the man i
Dante Alighieri, his life and works . ated his soul and gave all his futureyears. It is the same face with that of the mask ; but theone is the face of a youth, with all triumphant splendouron his brow, the other of a man, burdened with the dustand injury of age. The forms and features are alike,but as to the later face, That time of year thou mayst in it beholdWhen yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs which shake against the ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. The face of the youth is grave, as with the shadow of dis-tant sorrow; the face of the man is solemn, as of one whohad gone Per tutti i cerchi del dolente regno \^ The one is the young poet of Florence, the other thesupreme poet of the world— Che al divino dall eterno dal tempo era venuto. ^ * Compare the reference to Charles Martel of Hungary, Paradiso, viii. 55-7- 2 Through all the circles of the woeful kingdom {Purg. vii. 22). Who was come from the human to the divine, from time to eternity (Par. xxxi. 37-8).. PORTRAIT BY TADDEO GADDI 141 From the death-mask described above appears to havebeen modelled the famous bronze bust of Dante, now inthe National Museum at Naples.^ Another contemporary artist, besides Giotto, is knownto have painted Dantes portrait, but this unfortunatelyhas perished. In his Life of Dante, Leonardo Bruni says: His exact likeness, most excellently drawn from the life,by an accomplished painter of those times, is to be seenin the Church of Santa Croce, about half way up the churchon the left side as you go towards the high altar . ^ Thepainter of this portrait was Taddeo Gaddi,^ as we learnfrom Vasari, who in his Life of Taddeo Gaddi, speakingof Santa Croce, says : Below the partition which dividesthe church, on the left, above the crucifix of Donatello,Taddeo painted in fresco a miracle of St. Francis, how,appearing in the air, he restored to life a child who had beenkilled by falling from a loggia. In this fresco Taddeointroduced
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade19, booksubjectdantealighieri12651321
