#Gaetano Previati

[fordarkmornings]

Gaetano Previati (Italian, 1852-1920)

Hashish Smokers, 1887

[random-brushstrokes]

Gaetano Previati - The Kiss (ca. 1888)

[lux-vitae]

The Chariot of the Sun by Gaetano Previati (1907)

[peaceinthestorm]

Gaetano Previati (1852-1920, Italian) ~ The Night, n/d

[illustratus]

La danza delle Ore (The Dance of the Hours) by Gaetano Previati

[twirld]

Gaetano Previati

[venustapolis]

The Dance of the Hours (Gaetano Previati, 1899)

[leatherandmossprints]

‘The Dream’ by Gaetano Previati, c. 1912.

[nocnitsa]

Gaetano Previati- Funeral of a Virgin

[sesiondemadrugada]

Gaetano Previati.

[theantonian]

Death of Paolo and Francesca 1887 ca. | Oil painting on canvas Gaetano Previati

Dante's Inf. V tells the tragic love story of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta

Paolo Malatesta was the third son of the lord of Rimini, Malatesta da Verucchio. He was deemed by some to be a romantic sort, a man not really interested in the world around him, but there is evidence that he was indeed involved enough with the politics of the day to lend his sword arm in support of his father and his allies when needed. He was a handsome man with a winning nature. He was also married with children.

Francesca da Polenta (later Francesca da Rimini) was the beautiful young daughter of Guido, Lord of Ravenna, and as such, she was a valuable diplomatic pawn in the power games of Italian noblemen of the 13th century.

When Guido eventually found it expedient to make peace with his enemy, Malatesta da Verucchio, Paolo's father, he decided to seal the deal by marrying his daughter, Francesca, off to one of Malatesta's sons as a cunning political tie.

Unfortunately, his choice of husband had to be Malatesta's eldest son, Giovanni, who has been variously described as uncouth and deformed or crippled.

Guido realised that his romantic young daughter would not welcome such a man as her husband, so the handsome Paolo was invited to stand proxy for his brother at the wedding. Unfortunately, it would appear that no one told Francesca that Paolo was only the proxy.

Francesca had fallen instantly in love with the dashing Paolo and must have thought herself the luckiest girl in the world, so we can only imagine her feelings of horror when she awoke on the morning after her wedding night to find herself lying beside the 'deformed' Giovanni instead. Presumably it had been possible for the brothers to switch places in the darkened bedroom and the innocent Francesca had been cruelly duped.

One day the two were reading the tale of Guinevere and Lancelot, the Arthurian characters who succumb to their love for each other and engage in an extramarital affair that leads to the fall of Camelot. As Paolo and Francesca learned, how love had mastered Lancelot … they went pale, and caught each other’s glance. Coming to the part of the story where Guinevere finally gives in to Lancelot’s love for her, Paolo trembled to place his lips upon Francesca's mouth.

One day Giovanni found his wife's bedroom door locked and demanded to be admitted. He had been told of the affair by his servant and was determined to catch the lovers in flagrante. Paolo leapt towards a trapdoor in the floor as Francesca went to open the door and make her excuses for locking it.

However as she went to unlock the bedroom door she omitted to check that Paolo had actually made a clean getaway and closed the trapdoor behind him. Unfortunately his jacket had caught on the catch and he had been unable to free himself.

As soon as Giovanni came through the door he saw Paolo and ran at him with his rapier, despite the fact that it was his brother that he was about to kill. Francesca in a frenzy to save her lover threw herself in front of Giovanni's sword and was fatally stabbed. Giovanni, in his despair at inadvertently killing the woman he loved, withdrew his sword from her chest and then ran Paolo through with it, killing him instantly. It is said that the lovers were buried together.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Gaetano Previati (1852-1920), ‘Dance Of The Hours’ (Danza delle ore), 1899 :: [Guillaume Gris]

* * * *

“If you feel you ought to go, if I came to you at a moment when nothing could make you happy, if it's necessary for you to leave me now so that you may some day come back to me at peace, then it is I who ask you to go...” ― Alain-Fournier, Le Grand Meaulnes

[random-brushstrokes]

Gaetano Previati - The flock at dawn (1910)

[valentina-lauricella]

[peaceinthestorm]

Gaetano Previati (1852-1920, Italian) ~ Flowers and Roses, 1912

[Source: ambrosiana.it]

[weather-maiden]

My friends and I thinking about fictional men