The Divine Comedy - an expose with the Creators of the Ground Breaking KS Campaign - Figure Mentors

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THE DIVINE COMEDY – PRELUDE Anyone who knows me even on an appearance only basis will probably be able to work out that I love books and tattoos almost as much as I love miniature painting and Art. Without doubt one of my favourite pieces of literature is The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri who was in Florence in 1265. My right arm is covered in tattoos, a “sleeve”, of the artwork by Gustav Dore depicting the various iconic characters from the first book Inferno. I have a portrait of Dante himself, along with Francesca and her lover, Geryon, King Minos, Cerberus, Ulysses and some others too. I would say three quarters of the arm is taken up and there are several other images I want to add including that of the winged Satan but the addition of children to our little family soon put paid to any cash I had available for tattoos! Below you can see the concept sketches by Stefano Moroni for the initial Kickstarter figures. You can therefore, imagine my excitement when I was told a while ago that Aradia Miniatures were going to be producing a series of miniatures based on the incredible Divine Comedy. The Kickstarter, click HERE, is going incredibly well in it’s first day and I am looking forward to seeing more about the various Stretch Goals, at the time of writing Ulysses was about to be revealed. I managed to tie the guys down to get some information straight from the horses’ mouth as it were and there is also plans to write some additional reviews once my pledge arrives! THE DIVINE COMEDY – LITERATURE REFERENCE THE DIVINE COMEDY has been described as the greatest poem of the European Middle Ages and even as the “fifth gospel”, it is undoubtedly central to Western culture. It is a spiritual autobiography in the form of a journey as the poet Dante travels in the company of Virgil, through the realms of the dead, from the dark circles of the Inferno, up the mountain of Purgatory and eventually to Beatrice, his ideal woman, who guides him through Paradiso, lasting from the night before Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300. This Kickstarter predominantly deals with those characters and events of the first part, Inferno. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) has often been called “the Father of the Italian language” and in Italy, Dante is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta (“the Supreme Poet”). Dante himself led an eventful life to say the least having fought in a war, was handsomely rich with estates in Florence but following a major power struggle was fined and exiled for the last twenty years of his life. During his exile he write the DIVINE COMEDY and died in 1321 shortly after completing Paradiso. He was an intensely active and intellectual man, with strong convictions and was committed to civic life, study and literature. He was convicted of defrauding the public moneys, a crime which is widely regarded as being fabricated by his political enemies, he was exiled and faced being burnt at the stake if he ever returned. At first glance, the poem describes Dante’s travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise (Heaven) however, at a deeper level it represents allegorically, the soul’s journey towards God. Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, allegory was the prime mover for the creation of continuity between the ancient world and the “new” Christian world. THE DIVINE COMEDY – DISCOURSE WITH THE CREATORS The most difficult part at the beginning of this project has been the choice of the characters. This Kickstarter will launch the series and it was impossible to produce all of the characters which appeared throughout the text of the Comedy, there are so many fabulous figures in this literary masterpiece that would lend themselves to being remade into beautiful miniatures! First we have to say that some characters of the Comedy are not produced yet but, if this first wave of releases through Kickstarter have the deserved success we are hoping for, we will start very soon to produce the rest of the series. You’re probably wondering how many figures you will find on the Kickstarter, which characters will be represented and in which scale they will be cast? The line will be in 75mm, there will be only one 32mm figure, a Kickstarter exclusive (available only during this campaign) and one bust scheduled as a stretch goal; for the moment. There are five characters that will be unlocked if we are successful in reaching our target! DANTE AND VIRGIL Our concept artist Stefano Moroni had done several sketches of the two main antagonists and finally we have chosen to unite the 2 characters in one unique composition (as you can see from the images). Dante is afraid, it looks like he doesn’t want to proceed in his travel but the reassuring figure of Virgil – his teacher/master – shows him the path to go. We really love this composition and how the wind (we can imagine that it’s blowing from the gate of Hell in front of the two characters) moves their clothes, especially the cloak of Virgil. We proposed this project to Roberto de Meo, a sculptor from Rome, more than one year ago and he was immediately enthusiastic to participate in this large project. This has been our first collaboration with Roberto and it was great: we’re sure that we’ll work together again in some future projects! CERBERUS The three-headed hound present in Greek and Roman mythology was the guardian to the very threshold of hell. We think that an Inferno without its guardian isn’t an Inferno! Dante encountered Cerberus within the third circle found within the Upper Hell, here we find those sinners guilty of Gluttony and it occurs during the VI Canto. As you can see from the beautiful concept and from the sculpture too, Stefano’s slightly altered the anatomy and positioning of the heads: in the classical representations of Cerberus the heads are located on the line of the shoulders but since we’re Aradia Miniatures and we