Why it matters
Count Ugolino, condemned to starve in a tower with his children, sits among them in agony, based on Dante's Inferno. Carpeaux wanted to express 'the most violent passions' alongside 'the most delicate tenderness'.
Did you know?
- It was made between 1857 and 1861 at the Villa Medici in Rome.
- Each child represents a stage towards death.
- The legend that Ugolino ate his children probably comes from a misreading of Dante.
Based on the French Wikipedia article Ugolin entouré de ses quatre enfants (CC BY-SA 4.0).
