The Death of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca and His Sons (Inferno Canto XXXIII)
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
62.6 × 44.5 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
2024.1
Tags
male
About this artwork
Pierino da Vinci's dramatic relief depicts a scene from a poem that was based on an actual historical event. In 1289, following a political coup in Pisa, Italy, Count Ugolino and his sons were imprisoned in a tower and left to starve; their tragic tale inspired Dante Alighieri, who featured Ugolino in the Divine Comedy, an epic narrative tracing Dante’s imagined journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. Pierino reimagined the story, placing the despondent figures along the banks of the Pisan ...