Dante'd death

Otto Friedrich received traditional academic education during studies at the Imperial and Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and the Royal Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. After the studies, he lived in Paris for a number of years and also made several study trips to Brittany, Spain and the northern coast of Africa. In 1894, Friedrich returned to Vienna, where he settled for good. He was one of the founding members of the Vienna Secession. The painter primarily created history-themed works, even though there are also a number of landscapes and portraits signed with his name. Along with development of his individual style, Friedrich’s works clearly started to gain decorative values; in the course of time, the artist’s penchant for applying agile contour lines became visible.The painting entitled “Dante’s Death”, similarly to “Abelard and Héloise”, “Elisabeth of Turin Saying Farewell to Her Children in a Monastery in Marburg” and “Capuchin’s Sermon in Wallenstein’s Camp” derive from an early period in the oeuvre of the Viennese academic. Friedrich presented the scene of death of the author of “Divine Comedy” in a spacious Renaissance chamber, filled with people close to Dante. The painting was made in Munich in 1889, probably under the inspiration of the work of Silvio Pellico “Dante's Death” published for the first time in Turin in 1834. Soon after being painted, already in the same year, the work was exhibited during the annual exhibition of the Munich Academy, and a year later was displayed at the exhibition of the Academy in Berlin, where two years earlier the painter was distinguished by a golden medal. In the art of painting of the 2nd half of the 19th century, stories were primarily recounted with the use of anecdotes and episodes. “Painted history” often presented scenes from the life of painters, sculptors, writers and poets which usually reflected the contemporary beliefs and stereotypical personality models of great artists of ages past. It is sufficient to recall such presentations as “Leonardo da Vinci Dying in Francis I’s Arms” and “Dying Young Rafael Santi, Mourned by Beautiful Fornarina.”

Dariusz Kacprzak