Francesca da Rimini

This article is about the person. For the classical works, see Francesca da Rimini (disambiguation).

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca (1819).

Gustave Doré, from his illustrations to the Divine Comedy (1857): Dante faints at the pitifulness of Francesca da Rimini's plight, while the hurricane of souls that she and her lover are trapped in surround the scene.

Francesca da Rimini or Francesca da Polenta (1255–1285) was the daughter of Guido da Polenta, lord of Ravenna. She was a historical contemporary of Dante Alighieri, who portrayed her as a character in the Divine Comedy.

Arranged marriage

Guido I da Polenta had been at war with the Malatesta family. When a peace was negotiated, Guido wanted to solidify it by marrying his daughter Francesca to the Malatestan heir, Giovanni Malatesta (Gianciotto), son of Malatesta da Verucchio, lord of Rimini. Giovanni was brave but deformed. Guido knew Francesca would refuse Giovanni, so the wedding was performed by proxy through Giovanni's handsome brother, Paolo.

Francesca fell in love with Paolo and was unaware of the deception until the morning after the wedding day.

According to Dante, Francesca and Paolo were seduced by reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, and became lovers. Subsequently they were surprised and murdered by Giovanni before they were able to repent. However, it is likely that the adultery was much more calculated. Both Francesca and the also-married Paolo had their own children. Dante used the romance of Lancelot in order to fit within the scheme of lyric love poetry, which Francesca emulates in her lines of Inferno's Canto V.

Related works

In the 19th century the story of Paolo and Francesca inspired numerous theatrical, operatic and symphonic adaptations:

Poetry

• Dante, Divine Comedy. (Inferno, Canto V), (1308–1321)
• Leigh Hunt, The Story of Rimini (1816).

Theatre and opera

• Silvio Pellico, Francesca da Rimini. (1818). Tragedy.
• Feliciano Strepponi, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Padua, (1823).
• Paolo Carlini, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Naples,(1825).

Paolo and Francesca da Rimini by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1855)

• Saverio Mercadante, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Madrid, (1828).
• Gaetano Quilici, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Lucca, (1829).
• Pietro Generali, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Venice, (1829).
• Giuseppe Staffa, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Naples, (1831).
• Fournier-Gorre, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Livorno, (1832).
• Francesco Morlacchi, Francesca da Rimini. Opera (1836), unperformed.
• Antonio Tamburini, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Rimini, (1836).
• Emanuele Borgatta, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Genoa, (1837).
• Gioacchino Maglioni, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Genoa, (1840).
• Eugene Nordal, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Linz, (1840, posth.)
• Salvatore Papparlado, Francesca da Rimini. Opera; Genoa, (1840), not performed.
• George Henry Boker, Francesca da Rimini. (1853). Play.
• Jan Neruda, Francesca di Rimini. (1860). Play.
• Gabriele d'Annunzio, Francesca da Rimini. Tragedy written (1901) for d'Annunzio's mistress, Eleonora Duse.
• Stephen Phillips, Paolo and Francesca. Play (1902).
• Francis Marion Crawford, Francesca da Rimini. (1902). Play.
• Marcel Schwob, Francesca da Rimini. Play (1903), translation of Crawford.
• Sergei Rachmaninoff, Francesca da Rimini. Opera (1906).
• Luigi Mancinelli, Francesca da Rimini. Opera in 1 act, (1907).
• Emil Ábrányi, Paolo és Francesca (3 acts, libretto after Dante by Emil Ábrányi, Sr.), Opera (1912).
• Franco Leoni, Francesca da Rimini. Opera (1914), based on Crawford's play.
• Primo Riccitelli, Francesca da Rimini. Opera
• Riccardo Zandonai, Francesca da Rimini. Libretto by Tito Ricordi, based on D'Annunzio; Opera (1914).
• Nino Berrini, Francesca da Rimini. Play (1924).

Music

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Francesca da Rimini. Symphonic Poem (1876).
• Arthur Foote, Symphonic Prologue Francesca da Rimini, Op.24 (1890).
• Antonio Bazzini, Symphonic Poem Francesca da Rimini, Op.77 (Berlin, 1889/90).
• Paul von Klenau, Symphonic Poem Francesca da Rimini, (1913 - rev.1919).
• Peter Dizozza, Mini-Opera for Dramatizing Dante The Afterdeath, (2010).
• Mediaeval Baebes, The Circle Of The Lustful from The Rose album (2002)
• Olga Gorelli, Paolo e Francesca from Hausmusik. 20th Century Chamber Music for the Home album. A guitar duo.
• Gioacchino Rossini, Francesca da Rimini ("Faro' come colui che piange e dice") (1848).

Art

• Joseph Anton Koch, Paolo and Francesca Surprised by Gianciotto (1805–10). Watercolor, Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen.
• Marie-Philippe Coupin de la Couperie, The Tragic Love of Francesca da Rimini (1812). Oil on canvas, Napoleon Museum, Arenberg
• Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Paolo and Francesca (1819). Oil on canvas. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Angers, France.
• Ary Scheffer, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta appraised by Dante and Virgil (1835). Oil on canvas. Wallace Collection, London.
• Ary Scheffer, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta appraised by Dante and Virgil (1855). Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris.
• Gustave Doré, Francesca da Rimini (illustration to Dante's Inferno, 1857).
• Alexandre Cabanel, The Death of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta (1870). Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
• George Frederic Watts, Paolo and Francesca. Oil on canvas (1872-1884 (?)), Private collection.
• Auguste Rodin, The Kiss. Marble sculpture (1888), Musée Rodin, Paris.

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  Rodin's The Kiss (1888) was originally titled Francesca da Rimini.

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  Joseph Anton Koch, Paolo and Francesca Surprised by Gianciotto (1805-10).

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  Alexandre Cabanel, Mort de Francesca da Rimini et de Paolo Malatesta, ca. 1870.

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  Marie-Philippe Coupin de la Couperie, The Tragic Love of Francesca da Rimini, 1812

References

• Mason, A. E. W. (1935). Sir George Alexander & The St. James' Theatre. Reissued 1969, New York: Benjamin Blom.
• Hollander, Robert and Jean (2000). The Inferno. Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-49698-2. 
• Singleton, Charles S. (1970). The Divine Comedy, Inferno/Commentary. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01895-2. 

External links

• World of Dante Multimedia website that includes gallery of images of the Paolo and Francesca episode.
• WisdomPortal Includes images of related artworks.
• The Story of Rimini Google Books edition of Leigh Hunt's poem.