The Mad Flight

Description

Dante encounters Ulysses in Hell, among the fraudulent counselors, and asks him about his death. When Odysseus returned home, Penelope’s warmth and the affection of his people did little to curb his thirst for travel, conquest and the discovery of new worlds. So, with a small crew of old sailors, he set sail once more, visiting Sardinia, Morocco and many other lands… and when he reached the Pillars of Hercules, the boundaries that no man could cross – by divine decree – he did not stop. Odysseus and his companions rejoiced at the sight, in the distance, of a tall mountain – a new, as yet unexplored land? – but their joy was short-lived: soon a whirlpool swallowed them up, as if a divine punishment intended to curb their excessive boldness.

This diorama depicts the mad flight of this hero in his quest for ever greater knowledge, punished by his own hubris because he was unable to stop, as Dante recounts, within the limits imposed by Nature and by God. Read the Canto XXVI of Inferno by Dante Alighieri to know more.

This diorama depicts the final moment of Odysseus as described by Dante, a must-have for all collectors!