COMEDIA 2: PURGATORIO

Ink and Colored Pencil on Paper 22"x22"
Based on Dante's Purgatorio

In 2009, I finished what was at the time the most detailed piece I had ever done, and one of the first mandalas (even before I knew the term): COMEDIA: INFERNO, a ridiculously ornate sigil based on Dante's best known work that took around six months to produce. Ten years have passed, and I'm still playing around with these circle-stories, marking the occasion with COMEDIA 2: PURGATORIO, the direct sequel. 

In the poem, Dante and Virgil have just ascended from the depths of Hell, coming out the other side of the world to find a massive spiralling mountain climbing into the heavens, with each terrace representing one of the seven deadly sins and the contrasting virtue. In-depth description follows:

ANTE-PURGATORY: The beach and mountains around the gate of Purgatory proper are filled with the late repentant and excommunicated. They are forced to wait outside the gates until they have lived out their lifetimes (or several times this). Dante and Virgil pass through the valley of the Kings, rulers who were too busy serving the people to properly repent, and observe two angels fighting a serpent. 

FIRST TERRACE: The Prideful are forced to carry great weights that compress them to the ground. I depicted the weights as being the faces of the Penitant to represent the great weight of Ego. Marble sculptures and bas-reliefs depict stories that express the value of humility and dangers of pride (Mary and Gabriel, David dancing, The Ark of the Covenant, Trajan and the Widow). 
 
SECOND TERRACE: Since they desired all that they saw, The Envious sit against the cliff edge, wearing course clothes, and eyes sewn shut with iron wire. Each leans their head on the person next to them, and some call out stories in 14th century Italian against the sin of Envy, (Mary at the wedding, Orestes, Cain, and Aglauros) or beg various saints to help them. 

THIRD TERRACE: The Wrathful find themselves shrouded in a thick black smoke, representing the blinding effect of anger. Visions appear to Dante that represent the evils of wrath and virtues of peace (Mary and Christ at the Temple, Pisistratus, St. Stephen, Procne, Haman, Amata). 

FOURTH TERRACE: The Slothful find themselves filled with zeal, and so they run in circles, proclaiming stories that represent the virtues of zealousness and haste in the original 14th century Italian. At the bottom, The Siren lurks, halfway shifted between her true and glamour forms. 

FIFTH TERRACE: Since they never lifted their eyes to heaven, completely enamored with Earthly goods, The Greedy are stuck to the Earth, unable to lift their heads or move at all. Originally described as just laying on the ground, Renaissance artists would depict them as covered in moss or dirt. In my take, they are literally fused into the Earth, the curving nature of the ring depicting their eventual perspective shift. 

SIXTH TERRACE: The Gluttonous endure a Tantalus-type punishment for their Purgation, Delicious fruits hang overhead, but the branches lift away as the Penitant reach for them. 

SEVENTH TERRACE: A wall of fire burns at the top of the mountain, and the Lustful must burn away the last of their physical desires before moving into the heavens. 

CENTERPIECE: THE GARDEN: After passing through the wall of flames, Dante finds himself in the Garden of Eden, and witnesses  massive procession representing the Books of the Bible and Cardinal Virtues, and a brief history of the Roman Church, lead by Beatrice, the entire reason for Dante's journeys. Together, they move heavenwards, eager to rise, ready for the stars. 

This piece was a lot of fun to fall into, and similarly to the Inferno design, numerology plays a major role. While Inferno was set into Prime Number sets, this one is based entirely on the number 7, the righthanded spiral (compared to the lefthanded spiral of 6, the path of Inferno). The number of Penitent in each ring is divisible by 7, so (21+35+84+49+49+49+35+21=343=7x7x7).

Come back in ten years for COMEDIA 3: PARADISO, as a stained glass rose window.