Jennifer Strange's Illustrations of Inferno

            Jennifer Strange is an artist who currently lives and works in Indianapolis, Indiana. She has created a series of illustrations depicting the happenings of “The Divine Comedy.” There are images for Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Her work, inspired by “The Divine Comedy,” has received international acclaim and has been put on display in: New York, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and several other exhibitions. In 2006, her illustrations were put on display in Rome at Temple University (the Rome Campus) and at the Palazzo Casali Museum in Cortona, Italy. Though her work on “The Divine Comedy” has been featured at such prestigious venues, Strange still insists that her illustrations on “The Divine Comedy” are not yet complete. She hopes to add many more in the coming years.

            Her depiction of Canto 5 can be seen by clicking the following link: http://www.inspiredbydante.com/Inferno/Entries/2010/3/28_Canto_V_-_The_Carnal.html The first image is a depiction of the whirlwind which we encounter in the second circle – Lust. It is important to note the lack of any sort of vibrant colors in these images. By restricting the colors to only black and white, Strange is able to create a morose and dreary environment, which complements the motifs of hopelessness, misunderstanding and miscommunication that are so incredibly present in the poem. If you look at the zoomed in, or more detailed images further down the page, you can see that the souls are lacking any sort of distinguishable facial features. In fact, they appear to be lacking of any sort of facial features with the exception of a brow line. This is meant to prevent us from distinguishing the souls from one another, again complimenting the motif of confusion. There is a lack of light, a metaphor for clarity. In the next link we can see her illustration of Paolo and Francesca: http://www.inspiredbydante.com/Inferno/Entries/2010/3/28_Canto_V_-_Circle_II_-_The_Lovers.html

            Strange’s illustration of the gluttons in the third circle can be found by clicking the following link: http://www.inspiredbydante.com/Inferno/Entries/2010/3/28_Canto_VI_-_Circle_III_-_The_Gluttons.html Here we can see the souls of the third circle, as Dante describes them, lying in filth while being forced to endure snow, hail and rain which is symbolic to their worldly appetites and addictions which they were unable to satiate. Again, there is no use of color in Strange’s illustrations and similarly to the first two illustrations, the souls depicted in this third illustration are also lacking any sort of distinguishable facial features. It is also important to note the degree of the obesity of the souls. It is almost as if they are morbidly obese – so fat to the point that there is somewhat of deathly undertone to their appearance, which is quite suiting as the pictures take place in Hell.

            In the following link we can view Strange’s depiction of the poisoned wood – the suicides of cant 8: http://www.inspiredbydante.com/Inferno/Entries/2010/3/28_Canto_XIII_-_Suicides.html I found it quite interesting that the canopy of the trees’ leaves is so dense that there is no view of the skyline. The views of the souls who dwell here are so restricted, and we can see that in this illustration by means of the dense canopy. This again establishes the motif of blindness, confusion, etc.