Dante nelle sculture di Pietro Canonica

Among the sculptures on display are L'Abisso (1909) which, according to scholars, depicts the ill-fated love of Paolo and Francesca, narrated in Canto V of the Inferno and La Veglia dell'Anima (1920), a theme found in Canto XVIII of the Purgatorio.
Among the works that most explicitly pay homage to Dante is a plaster cast of Beatrice (1910), a cast of the original in marble and bronze that archival sources indicate is in the Peterhof Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The itinerary covers Room III, Room VII and the Fireplace Room, on the ground floor of the Museum, with a layout that uses didactic and multimedia devices to allow visitors to explore certain themes and immerse themselves in an evocative and emotional context, thanks also to the reading of some verses taken from Dante's works.  

Pietro Canonica (Moncalieri, TO 1869 - Rome 1959), refined portrait painter of the most important aristocratic families and the main European courts, loved reading Dante, he openly declares it in his memoirs but above all it can be found in some of his sculptures. A clear relationship where the homage to the poet is direct, but also a trace to be sought, to be highlighted where Canonica is inspired by Dante's poetic world. These works, identified within the Museum's permanent collection, were supplemented on the occasion of the exhibition by the rich photographic and documentary material usually kept in the historical archive. The investigation revealed signs and clues that help us understand the importance of Dante for the imagination of the Piedmontese sculptor and his creative world: which verses and which iconography Canonica dealt with, which themes he selected and which symbols he chose to give substance to his "idea" of Dante. From the study and juxtaposition of the materials came new and interesting interpretations of Pietro Canonica's works.