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The small photographic corpus, known as the ‘Dante’s iconography’, consists of 50 photographic reproductions of the plates realized by Francesco Scaramuzza, an artist from Parma, for his illustrations of the Divine Comedy of Dante. Although considered one of the most important illustrators of Dante’s work, Scaramuzza was long overshadowed by the French artist Gustave Doré, whose illustrations of the Comedy were published just a few years later. The collection comprises 50 albumen prints, each individually glued on a rigid cardboard support and accompanied by captions quoting the corresponding verses of the Comedy. Some prints feature small corrections added in pencil after the photographs were printed. The excellent state of preservation of these prints allows us today to appreciate the important role of photography as an affordable means of reproducing great works of art, making them accessible to a much wider audience
