Giving Dante a Voice

The most popular painter of still lifes in the United States in the nineteenth century, William Michael Harnett (1848-1892), created an ensemble in 1883, Still Life with Bust of Dante, that juxtaposes the Italian poet with Marquis de Sade. Harnett’s painting foregrounds the potential of Dante as a provocative critique of the Church. On the cusp of the modernist movement, Harnett’s mediation of the poet is indicative of other appropriations to come in Anglo-American literary and artistic culture that will highlight the radical modernity of the Divine Comedy. The most popular painter of still lifes in the United States in the nineteenth century, William Michael Harnett (1848-1892), created an ensemble in 1883, Still Life with Bust of Dante, that juxtaposes the Italian poet with Marquis de Sade. Harnett’s painting foregrounds the potential of Dante as a provocative critique of the Church. On the cusp of the modernist movement, Harnett’s mediation of the poet is indicative of other appropriations to come in Anglo-American literary and artistic culture that will highlight the radical modernity of the Divine Comedy.&nbsp