Dante (c. 1448–49), Andrea del Castagno. Uffizi Galleries, Florence
This year marks another key anniversary in the art historical calendar the 700th anniversary of the death of the hugely influential Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri whose epic
Divine Comedy has inspired numerous artists from Sandro Botticelli to William Blake and contemporary UK artist Matthew Burrows. The three-part epic poem divided into Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise was published in 1320.
The Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Dante s birthplace, are spearheading a number of commemorative initiatives such an exhibition dedicated to him in the northern Italian town of Forlì where the poet fled to in 1302. The Uffizi Galleries and the Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì Foundation are co-organising the hugely ambitious exhibition