중세말 문학적 상상력의 근원으로서의 시각이미지: 단테의 『신곡』과 당대 종교미술을 중심으로 (Images as Sources of Literary Imagination in the Late Medieval Age: Dante’s Divine Comedy and Contemporaneous Religious Art)

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초록

Depiction of the scenery of Dante’s Divine Comedy is so vivid that it makes the reader imagine as if the story is happening right before their eyes. Some of the phrases remind of certain contemporary artworks. It is often assumed that the painting is physical visualization of the literary content. However, reading Dante’s work, he/she may find that the visual image becomes the source of literary imagination. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process in which the visual image influences the conception of poem.
In Canto X of Prgatorio Dante looks at the carved relief which portrays the anecdote of “Trajan and the poor widow.” The relief was so vividly carved, thus he says “visibile speech(visibile parlare)”. In addition, when he looks at the carved relief of Annunciation he writes “silent image” looks as if “it speaks.” As the real-life example for the phrase “a painted image speaks,” Giotto’s painting could be the most appropriate. The gestures shown by Giotto paintings makes viewer to think as if the figures are speaking. New style of Giotto is tempered but voluminous. It makes the viewer to feel as if the painted figures are alive.
Dante praised Giotto in Purgatorio, and Giotto painted Dante’s portrait among the chosen ones in his painting Final Judgement in Palazzo della Podesta in Florence. Therefore, both masters praised each other during their lifetime. The reason that the relationship between two masters interests scholars is that there is strong similarity between two masters. Giotto‘s painting is “silent poetry,” Dante’s poetry is the “painting that speaks.”Dante’s Lucifer has three-sided face. He devours man entirely, and has a pair of bat-like wings. The image of three-sided face may be found in the Symbol of evil carved in the façade of San Pietro in Tuscany. The image of devouring entire man is seen from Giotto’s Lucifer. The image of bat-like wings are found among images of devil made during Middle Ages. Those images may have been buried deeply inside his memories, and were used when he needed it. To conjure up the image of Lucifer as an antagonist for the Trinity, Dante remembered the image of the devil with three-sided face. In other words, the exterior images that he saw became the agent for making an inner and ethical images for his use.
Visual images materialize the invisible concepts such as devil and satan, and make the viewers believe as though these things exist before one’s eyes. When things are remembered as visual forms, these become more concrete than things which are remembered only as an abstract concept. It may be said what Dante depicted in his writing was the devil which was part of the collective imagined memory, visualized in a form of paintings and sculptures. Still, it does not diminish Dante’s achievements. The reason why he could remember the open image was that he could deeply perceive the ethical meanings of forms and its involved symbols.
If there were no paintings of hell and heaven that captivated Dante’s eyes,Divine Comedy would have become completely different work. At the same time, if there were no new artistic style derived by Giotto and others, Dante’s verses of pictorial expressions would not have existed. Dante’s memories of visual forms constructed his imagination and this latent memory made Divine Comedy possible.

영어초록

Depiction of the scenery of Dante’s Divine Comedy is so vivid that it makes the reader imagine as if the story is happening right before their eyes. Some of the phrases remind of certain contemporary artworks. It is often assumed that the painting is physical visualization of the literary content. However, reading Dante’s work, he/she may find that the visual image becomes the source of literary imagination. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process in which the visual image influences the conception of poem.
In Canto X of Prgatorio Dante looks at the carved relief which portrays the anecdote of “Trajan and the poor widow.” The relief was so vividly carved, thus he says “visibile speech(visibile parlare)”. In addition, when he looks at the carved relief of Annunciation he writes “silent image” looks as if “it speaks.” As the real-life example for the phrase “a painted image speaks,” Giotto’s painting could be the most appropriate. The gestures shown by Giotto paintings makes viewer to think as if the figures are speaking. New style of Giotto is tempered but voluminous. It makes the viewer to feel as if the painted figures are alive.
Dante praised Giotto in Purgatorio, and Giotto painted Dante’s portrait among the chosen ones in his painting Final Judgement in Palazzo della Podesta in Florence. Therefore, both masters praised each other during their lifetime. The reason that the relationship between two masters interests scholars is that there is strong similarity between two masters. Giotto‘s painting is “silent poetry,” Dante’s poetry is the “painting that speaks.”Dante’s Lucifer has three-sided face. He devours man entirely, and has a pair of bat-like wings. The image of three-sided face may be found in the Symbol of evil carved in the façade of San Pietro in Tuscany. The image of devouring entire man is seen from Giotto’s Lucifer. The image of bat-like wings are found among images of devil made during Middle Ages. Those images may have been buried deeply inside his memories, and were used when he needed it. To conjure up the image of Lucifer as an antagonist for the Trinity, Dante remembered the image of the devil with three-sided face. In other words, the exterior images that he saw became the agent for making an inner and ethical images for his use.
Visual images materialize the invisible concepts such as devil and satan, and make the viewers believe as though these things exist before one’s eyes. When things are remembered as visual forms, these become more concrete than things which are remembered only as an abstract concept. It may be said what Dante depicted in his writing was the devil which was part of the collective imagined memory, visualized in a form of paintings and sculptures. Still, it does not diminish Dante’s achievements. The reason why he could remember the open image was that he could deeply perceive the ethical meanings of forms and its involved symbols.
If there were no paintings of hell and heaven that captivated Dante’s eyes,Divine Comedy would have become completely different work. At the same time, if there were no new artistic style derived by Giotto and others, Dante’s verses of pictorial expressions would not have existed. Dante’s memories of visual forms constructed his imagination and this latent memory made Divine Comedy possible.

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