Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

To honor the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence is presenting a free virtual exhibition of 88 drawings by artist Federico Zuccari illustrating the legendary Italian poet's seminal work: The Divine Comedy. The fragile drawings have only been displayed publicly twice before. (AP)

The Bodmer Foundation commemorates the anniversary of Dante's death with a new exhibition on the Florentine poet and mystic

Chinese porcelain vied with a work by a French master for first place in this prestigious, resoundingly successful sale, which also included items by Jouve and Dalí.

Marking the 700th anniversary of the poet’s death, the exhibition at Museo d’Arte della Città in Ravenna will explore his journey through the artworks which he could have encountered on the way. Including works borrowed from the Louvre and the Uffizi Galleries, it will run until June 4th. (Artnet)

The Italian actor, known for Life is Beautiful, is a known Dante aficionado. On the 25th March, the “Dantedì” marking 700 years since the Florentine poet’s death, Benigni will return to perform verses from the celebrated work, which describes the poet’s spiritual journey through hell, purgatory and heaven. (Repubblica)

In a journey through knowledge, the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) brilliantly reconstructs the “essence” of humanist thought.

Count Ugolin, a painting by the Florentine painter Fra'Arsenio (1579-1637), enters the museum's collections. Offered by the American Friends of the Uffizi Gallery, it presents a subject dear to Dante, whose 700th anniversary of death Italy will celebrate on September 14.

As the modern nation-state of Italy celebrates its 160th birthday, together with the 7th centenary of Dante’s death, the focus is shifting to the future. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini hopes for an “explosion of culture” while the art historian Tomaso Montanari believes local tourism will flourish. (La Stampa)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s atypically sinister watercolour The Death of Breuze Sans Pitié, considered lost from 1926 to 1993, will be displayed at the British Museum in an exhibition of the late John Christian’s vast private collection from 3 September to 12 November. It depicts two men engaged in knife combat.

This bronze cast by Barbedienne has been in the same collection since the 1960s. We look back at the birth of an icon.