The author

Jan van der Straet, known in Italy as Giovanni Stradano or Giovanni della Strada, was born in Bruges in 1523 and died in Florence in 1605. His artistic training began in his hometown under the guidance of his father and continued in Antwerp with Pieter Aertsen. However, it was in Florence that he completed his maturation, fully integrating into the artistic environment of the Medici court and making the city his second homeland.

In Florence he came into contact with Giorgio Vasari and the main exponents of local Mannerism. He collaborated on the decoration of Studiolo of Cosimo I de’ Medici and several rooms in Palazzo Vecchio, participating in important artistic undertakings of the court. At the same time, he created cartoons for the grand ducal tapestry manufactory, distinguishing himself for his inventive capacity and the versatility of his figurative language.

His knowledge of Italian art deepened further during his stay in Rome. Here he collaborated with Daniele da Volterra on the frescoes in Belvedere Vaticano, now lost, and with Cecchino Salviati in the chapel of Palazzo della Cancelleria. During this period he carefully studied the works of Michelangelo, assimilating elements that would influence his later production.

Although he can be fully considered an artist of Italian Mannerism, Stradano never abandoned his Flemish roots. The fusion of Nordic culture and Italian tradition indeed represents one of the most original aspects of his art. This synthesis clearly emerges in the series of drawings dedicated to the Divina Commedia, created between 1587 and 1588 and preserved at Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence in the Palatino 75 manuscript.

In the plates of the Inferno, the influence of the Nordic tradition is particularly evident. Demonic figures, monstrous creatures, and unsettling landscapes in fact recall the imagery of artists such as Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The scholar Thiem has also attributed to Stradano some drawings from the Santarelli collection, today at Uffizi, including an intense Lucifer intent on devouring the souls of the damned with his triple maw. The work is considered one of the most dramatic and evocative images of the entire cycle inspired by Dante's poem.