While some museums are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apollo’s usual weekly pick of exhibitions will include shows at institutions that are currently open as well as digital projects providing virtual access to art and culture.
Marking the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, the Uffizi has launched a virtual exhibition of Federico Zuccari’s illustrations after the Florentine poet’s Divine Comedy. These beautiful and intricate drawings, completed between 1586 and 1588, have rarely been exhibited before; viewable here in high definition and arranged, in the words of the museum, ‘as a journey’, they follow Dante’s narrative canto by canto – leading through each concentric circle of hell, up the Mountain of Purgatory, and into the spheres of heaven. Later in the year, a major exhibition co-organised by the Uffizi and the Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì Foundation, taking place in Forlì, will explore Dante’s influence on visual artists over the centuries. View the drawings on the Uffizi’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here
The Dark Forest (Inferno, Canto I) (1586–88), Federico Zuccari. Uffizi Galleries, Florence
The Gates of Hell (Inferno, Canto II) (1586–88), Federico Zuccari. Uffizi Galleries, Florence
Ninth Circle: The Giants (Inferno, Canti (1586–88), Federico Zuccari. Uffizi Galleries, Florence
Screenshot of the Uffizi’s virtual tour, showing the fifth sphere of heaven (Mars)