Critics have long wrestled with the question of how artists and writers influence each other. For Luke Johnson, an encounter with a painting took him in a wholly unexpected direction.
Dante running from the Three Beasts by William Blake (1824-1827).
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
All muscles and sensuous flesh, its hyper and toxic masculinity puts this Rodin scholar off the artist’s most famous artwork.
Six Tuscan Poets by Giorgio Vasari, 1544. Dante Alighieri,
Giovanni Boccaccio, Petrarch, Cino da Pistoia, Guittone d'Arezzo and Guido Cavalcanti are depicted in the oil painting.
Wikimedia/MIA
The history of Italian literature cannot be understood without the vernacular poets. But their works were largely unknown until Lorenzo ‘the Magnificent’ sent a gift to the Prince of Naples.
Hilye, or calligraphic panel containing a physical description of the Prophet Muhammad made in 1718 in the Galata Palace, Istanbul.
Dihya Salim al-Fahim, (1718), via Wikimedia Commons
Visual depiction of Prophet Muhammad is a sensitive issue for many Muslims. Islamic literature shows how Muslims used textual imagery to give a vivid picture of the prophet.
Sculpture of ninth-century Persian scholar Al-Khwarizmi in Khiva, Uzbekistan. Latin discovery of Al-Khwarizmi’s work introduced the numerals 0-9, one of many ways in which Islamic cultures have contributed to Western civilisation.
LBM1948/Wikimedia Commons
Western civilisation and Islam are sometimes seen as diametrically opposed. Yet Islamic cultures have contributed much to the West, in language, philosophy and literature.
What was behind early depictions of hell?
Erica Zabowski/Flickr.com
The gates to hell in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy tell us to “abandon all hope, yet who enter here”. Despite its unfunny premise, ‘La Commedia’ ends well, with its protagonist Dante reaching heaven.