Francesca da Rimini
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Francesca da Rimini or Francesca da Polenta (1255 – 1285) was the beautiful daughter of Guido da Polenta of Ravenna. She was a historical contemporary of Dante Alighieri, who portrayed her as a character in the Divine Comedy.
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[edit] Arranged marriage
Guido da Polenta had been at war with the Malatesta family. Peace had been negotiated and he wanted to solidify it by marrying Francesca with Giovanni Malatesta of Rimini, the Malatestan heir. Giovanni was brave but lame and deformed. Guido knew Francesca would refuse him, so the marriage was proxy through Paolo, handsome brother of Giovanni.
Francesca fell in love with Paolo and was unaware of the deception until the morning after the wedding day.
Paolo and Francesca became lovers after being seduced by their reading of the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. They were subsequently surprised and murdered by Giovanni in 1285.
[edit] Related works of art
- Dante, Divine Comedy. (Inferno, Canto V), (1308-1321)
- Silvio Pellico, Francesca da Rimini. (1818). Tragedy.
- Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Paolo and Francesca (1819). Oil on canvas. [Musée des Beux-Arts], Angers, France.
- George Henry Boker, Francesca da Rimini. (1853). Play.
- Ary Scheffer, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta appraised by Dante and Virgil (1855). Oil on canvas. Wallace Collection, London.
- Alexandre Cabanel, The Death of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta (1870). Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Francesca da Rimini. Symphonic Poem (1876).
- Auguste Rodin, The Kiss. Marble sculpture (1888), Musée Rodin, Paris.
- Gabriele D'Annunzio, Francesca da Rimini. Tragedy, (1901), written for Eleonora Duse.
- Sergei Rachmaninoff, Francesca da Rimini. Opera, (1906)
- Riccardo Zandonai, Francesca da Rimini. Opera, 1914.
[edit] External links
- WisdomPortal Includes images of related artworks.
- [1]Story Paolo And Francesca (it)
[edit] Reference
- 1970 The Divine Comedy, Inferno/Commentary. Charles S. Singleton, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-01895-2
