Dante Alighieri

Artist: Ximenes, Ettore

With: Warren & Wetmore, architectural firm and Denigris Brothers, founder

Status: In Situ

Title: Dante Alighieri (sculpture)

Dates: 1912-21. Dedicated 1921. 

Medium: Bronze; Base: granite. 

Dimensions: H. 65 ft. overall; H. 25 ft. 7 in. W. 16 ft. 4 in. D. 16 ft. 4 in. 

Inscription: Denigris Brothers Founder’s mark appears. Pedestal front: DANTE. Pedestal Base: DENIGRIS BROS.

Description: Dante is depicted wearing long robes and a laurel wreath around his head. On his proper right side he holds a copy of his poem, “The Divine Comedy,” with both hands.

Owner:Located Dante Square, Broadway & 65th Street, New York, New York

Remarks: Located opposite the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, this larger-than-life-sized bronze sculpture depicts Italian Renaissance author and poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321). The sculpture was given to the City of New York by Italian Americans. The total cost of the sculpture was $20,000, with $10,000 of it provided by Italian Americans. The Dante Alighieri Society planned a Dante monument to salute the 50th anniversary of Italian unification in 1912, but the monument was not completed until 1921, so it marked the 600th anniversary of Dante’s death. In 1921, Carlo Barsotti donated a replica of this piece for Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C. In 1992 the Radisson Empire Hotel funded the conservation and repair of the sculpture and sponsored horticultural improvements and public programs in the park. In 2001 the monument was again refurbished by the City Parks Foundation Monuments Conservation Program.

References: Gayle, Margot & Michele Cohen, Guide to Manhattan’s Outdoor Sculpture, New York: Prentice Hall, 1988, p. 265.