Botticelli often concerned himself during his lifetime with illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy. He executed the drawings from the cycle illustrated here over a relatively long period of time, from about 1480 to 1500. The identification of these illustrations with the Dante cycle which Botticelli is known to have done for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, his great patron from the Medici family, seems not improbable.

For some reason unknown to us, the drawings were never completed. Only four of the surviving 93 sheets - nine having been lost in the course of time - are coloured, although this was presumably the original intention for all of them. The drawings are now in the collections of the Staatliche Museen in Berlin and the Vatican Library.

Dante wrote over 14.000 verses describing his visionary journey through the kingdoms of Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio) and Paradise (Paradiso). The epic is divided into 100 cantos: 34 for Hell and 33 each for Purgatory and Paradise. Dante is at first guided on his journey by the classical poet Virgil, but in Paradise he is led by his muse, Beatrice. During his journey Dante meets a large number of nameless people, and also famous personalities from the past and his own age. Every one of them has received the place he deserves as a result of the offences or merits of his life.

Preview	Picture Data	File Info	Comment
	The Abyss of Hell 1480s Coloured drawing on parchment, 320 x 470 mm Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome	1044*700 True Color 142 Kb
	Inferno, Canto XVIII 1480s Coloured drawing on parchment, 320 x 470 mm Staatliche Museen, Berlin	1030*674 True Color 154 Kb
	Inferno, Canto XVIII (detail) 1480s Silverpoint on parchment, completed in pen and ink, coloured with tempera Staatliche Museen, Berlin	837*1009 True Color 158 Kb
	Inferno, Canto XXXI 1480s Silverpoint on parchment, completed in pen and ink, 320 x 470 mm Staatliche Museen, Berlin	1196*765 Grayscale 139 Kb
	Inferno, Canto XXXIV (detail) 1480s Silverpoint on parchment, completed in pen and ink Staatliche Museen, Berlin	944*606 True Color 78 Kb
	Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) 1480s Silverpoint on parchment, completed in pen and ink, coloured with tempera Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome	683*1018 True Color 164 Kb
	Illustration to the Divine Comedy (Inferno) 1480s Silverpoint on parchment, completed in pen and ink, coloured with tempera Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome	1030*699 True Color 109 Kb
	Purgatory X 1490s Drawing on parchment, 320 x 470 mm Staatliche Museen, Berlin	1026*700 True Color 99 Kb
	Paradise, Canto VI 1490s Silverpoint on parchment, completed in pen and ink, 320 x 470 mm Staatliche Museen, Berlin	1030*695 Grayscale 85 Kb
	Paradise, Canto XXX 1490s Drawing on parchment, 320 x 470 mm Staatliche Museen, Berlin	1042*700 True Color 90 Kb