Artwork Page for The Death of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca and His Sons (Inferno Canto XXXIII)

Details / Information for The Death of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca and His Sons (Inferno Canto XXXIII)

The Death of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca and His Sons (Inferno Canto XXXIII)

c. 1550

Pierino da Vinci

(Italian, 1530–1553)
Culture
Italy
Medium
Terracotta
Measurements
Overall: 62.6 x 44.5 cm (24 5/8 x 17 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2024.1
Public Domain
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Location
118 Italian Renaissance
Print
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Did You Know?

Leonardo da Vinci’s nephew Pierino was considered the heir to his uncle’s artistic genius.

Description

Pierino da Vinci's dramatic relief depicts a scene from a poem that was based on an actual historical event. In 1289, following a political coup in Pisa, Italy, Count Ugolino and his sons were imprisoned in a tower and left to starve; their tragic tale inspired Dante Alighieri, who featured Ugolino in the Divine Comedy, an epic narrative tracing Dante’s imagined journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. Pierino reimagined the story, placing the despondent figures along the banks of the Pisan river and adding a monstrous flying character representing hunger.
A reddish-brown terracotta relief, roughly rectangular, depicts seven muscular nude figures. At the top, a winged figure flies leftward with an outstretched arm. Below, a large, bearded man sits on the right, hand clutching his chest, while four smaller figures cluster to the left. At the base, a second bearded man reclines horizontally. Rough tool marks and textured surfaces accentuate the anatomy, with deep shadows defining the figures' dramatic poses.

The Death of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca and His Sons (Inferno Canto XXXIII)

c. 1550

Pierino da Vinci

(Italian, 1530–1553)
Italy

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