Lucifer
Io non mori’ e non rimasi vivo: [..] Lo ‘mperador del doloroso regno da mezzo ‘l petto uscìa fuor de la ghiaccia; [..] S’el fu sì bel com’elli è ora brutto, e contra ‘l suo fattore alzò le ciglia, ben dee da lui proceder ogne lutto. [..]
Dante Alighieri, Canto XXXIV – Divine Comedy
Illustration by Gaia Chik
2 comments :
Dear Gaia, I like the tone of your illustration, it puts me in mind of some of Goya’s illustrations, I’m not sure who your influences are but can I recommend that you have a look at Rackams illustrations, they were a constant source of inspiration to me when I was an illustrator http://rackham.artpassions.net/
this is just one of many sites about him and his work, and going to life drawing classes can really sharpen the eye, but still it’s a good drawing, pity I can’t read the Italian……. lol,
Hope your well,
Tom
Hi Tom,
thank you for the recommendation, I found Rackams work awesome and very inspiring.
The Italian piece is text taken from the Divine Comedy where Dante encounters the figure of Lucifer who has 3 faces munching upon three men. The middle one is Judas. The wings are supposed to be two per head and in Dante’s description they are moving around restlessly creating a gelid wind which freezes everything around…
I posted it in Italian because I couldn’t find a proper translation that would give the idea of Dante’s writing, which in Italian sounds roughly like Shakespeare does in English.