behold your heart: Dante Biennial: Inspired by Dante Alighieri

Few writers have had such a profound influence upon Western visual culture as Florentine poet and visionary storyteller Dante Alighieri.

His epic narrative poem, The Divine Comedy, has inspired artists almost since the time of its completion in 1320: from Giovanni di Paolo and Sandro Botticelli, through William Blake and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, to Robert Rauschenberg and Sidney Nolan.

Dante’s life, with its record of passion and love for his ideal Beatrice, and its travails of injustice and exile, has also proved a rich source of images; and his distinctive profile has been recorded by artists from Giotto to Tom Phillips and beyond.

His life and writings continue to inspire artists to this day.

Following our exhibition Inferno in 2022, the first of the gallery's biennial exhibitions inspired by the life and writings of Dante, the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery is proud to present behold your heart, the second of such Dante-inspired exhibitions.

Behold your heart brings together works inspired by two of Dante's poems: La Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy.

The exhibition includes works by Emma Haworth, Henry Holiday, John Holcomb, Barbara Macfarlane, Alice Macdonald, Sidney Nolan, Tom Philips, Ed Ruscha, Phil Shaw, Hepzibah Swinford, and Tobias Till.