Dante

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), poet and author of the 'Divina Commedia'. The precise source of this coarse painting remains unidentified, but it may be compared, in reverse, with the half-length portraits of Dante in the Uffizi, Florence (P1563, pendant to a Petrarch, P1562) and the Yale University Art Gallery. Size and format compare closely with Alleyn's sets of Kings and Queens and Sibyls (British School DPG521-36 and DPG537-45); DPG427 was doubtless acquired by Alleyn, very possibly from 'Mr Gibkyn' (see British School DPG537). DPG427 may have belonget to a set of poets otherwise including perhaps Ariosto, Tasso and Petrarch.