Double-sided facsimile of the Divine Comedy by Marciana, f. 72r–72v

What are you buying?

By purchasing this card you receive a double-sided facsimile reproduction of folio 72r–72v of the Divine Comedy by Marciana.

The card is printed on both sides:

Front: f. 72r, with the conclusion of Canto XXVI, the reference to Adam, the opening of Canto XXVII and the miniature with Dante, Beatrice, St. Peter and the haloed figures of the sky of the Fixed Stars.

Reverse: f. 72v, with the continuation of Canto XXVII, the ascent towards the Primum Mobile and the miniature with Dante and Beatrice facing the blessed figures wrapped in the luminous cloud.

Along with the card, the customer also receives:

• 24-month Antiquus warranty to protect the purchased product.
• Certificate identifying the reference work, the reproduced sheet and the essential data of the facsimile.
• A ten-point description of the work, designed to understand the historical, literary, and iconographic significance of the map.
• Dedicated social media content, useful for explaining and sharing the cultural value of paper on your own channels.
• Instructions for the conservation of the work

A purchase designed not only for collecting, but also for understanding, narrating, and enhancing the work.

Description

This double-sided facsimile map reproduces folio 72r–72v of Marciana’s Divine Comedy, one of the densest and most fascinating maps of the final part of Paradiso.

On f. 72r Canto XXVI, linked to the figure of Adam, ends and Canto XXVII opens, introduced by the solemn hymn to the Trinity:

“To the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Spirit…”

It is one of the most striking openings of the third canticle. The entire Paradise transforms into a liturgy: it is no longer just a story, no longer just a journey, but a cosmic song. Dante is now close to the final threshold of vision.

The miniature on f. 72r shows Dante and Beatrice before four haloed figures. The first figure is recognizable as Saint Peter, thanks to the keys, his traditional attribute. These figures, therefore, in the context of the canto, refer to the four great lights of the heavens of the Fixed Stars: Saint Peter, Saint James, Saint John, and Adam.

This is a crucial detail. Dante is not before a generic group of blessed: he is before presences that sum up humanity’s spiritual journey. The three apostles recall the theological virtues—faith, hope, and charity—while Adam represents the beginning of human history, the first fall, and the possibility of redemption.

Immediately afterward, Paradise changes tone. The light is not merely splendor: it becomes judgment. Saint Peter rages against the corruption of the earthly Church, transforming the scene into one of the most severe and prophetic moments of the Comedy. Dante places this denunciation not in Hell, but in the heart of Paradise: as if only from the greatest light were it possible to truly see the truth of the world.

On f. 72v, the scene unfolds vertically. Dante and Beatrice are depicted below, in the starry sky, gazing upward. Above them, within a luminous cloud, the haloed figures reappear. The miniature visualizes the passage to a higher region: the journey prepares to pass beyond the heaven of the
Fixed Stars and ascend toward the Primum Mobile, the heaven that gives motion to the entire universe.

This card therefore tells three decisive dimensions of the final Paradise:

• prayer, with the song to the Trinity;
• the judgment, with Saint Peter and the denunciation of corruption;
• the cosmic vertigo, with the ascent towards the Primum Mobile.

It is a card for those who love Dante not only as a poet of beauty, but as a poet of truth.

Iconographic reading of the front — f. 72r

F. 72r is dominated by a miniature of great symbolic intensity.

On the left, Dante and Beatrice appear. Before them stand four haloed figures. The first, recognizable by the keys, is Saint Peter. The keys are not a secondary detail: they indicate apostolic authority and prepare the great moment of Canto XXVII, when Peter delivers his invective against the degeneration of the Church.

Alongside him are the other figures in the heaven of the Fixed Stars: Saint James, Saint John, and Adam. The reading is based on the context of Dante’s text: the canto opens by speaking of the “four faces,” that is, the four great lights that Dante sees before his eyes in this section of Paradise.

The miniature thus acquires an extraordinary value: Dante is placed before the roots of faith and human history.

Saint Peter represents faith and the early Church.
Saint James represents hope.
Saint John represents charity.
Adam is the first man, the beginning of humanity, and the sign of redemption.

The scene doesn’t just illustrate the text: it interprets it. It shows Dante before the great spiritual columns that precede his final ascent.

Iconographic reading of the back — f. 72v

F. 72v completes and amplifies the meaning of the front.

At the bottom, Dante and Beatrice are depicted, immersed in the starry sky. Both gaze upward. Above them, within a luminous cloud, the haloed figures reappear. The scene has a strongly vertical structure: the pilgrims at the bottom, the glorified presences above.

The miniature suggests a movement of elevation. The sacred figures seem to rise or gather in the light, as Dante and Beatrice are led toward a new cosmic threshold.

This threshold is the Primum Mobile, the ninth heaven of Dante’s cosmos. It is the heaven that gives motion to all the lower heavens. It is not yet the Empyrean, but it is the extreme limit of the physical world, the point at which Dante approaches the invisible structure of the universe.

On the back, therefore, the card doesn’t simply show a continuation of the narrative: it shows a transition. After the canto, after the judgment of Saint Peter, after the vision of the four torches, Dante ascends toward the heaven that moves everything.

The miniature makes visible one of the highest ideas of the Comedy: the universe is not chaos, but order; and this order is born of divine love.

Product data sheet

• Reference work: Divine Comedy by Marciana
• Author: Dante Alighieri
• Original manuscript: Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice
• Signature: Cod. It. IX, 276 (=6902)
• Reproduced sheet: f. 72r–72v
• Canticle: Paradise
• Songs represented: end of Canto XXVI and Canto XXVII
• Context: Fixed Star sky and transition to the Primum Mover
• Main subject: Dante and Beatrice before the four faces of Paradise
• Main characters: Dante, Beatrice, Saint Peter, Saint James, Saint John and Adam
• Main theme: origin of humanity, theological virtues, apostolic authority, invective of St. Peter and ascension of the Primum Mobile
• Dating of the original: 14th century
• Area of ​​production: Veneto area, probably Venice, 1375–1400
• Script: Formal Italian Gothic on two columns
• Type: double-sided facsimile paper
• Page size of the complete facsimile: 27.5 × 43 cm
• Price: €149.00
• Warranty: 24 months

Why is Adam in Dante’s Paradise?

The presence of Adam is one of the most profound elements of this card.

Adam is the first man, linked to creation, the fall, and original sin. He might seem like a figure of loss. Yet Dante places him in Paradise, among the great blessed presences of the heaven of the Fixed Stars.

This choice has a very powerful meaning.

For Dante, Adam is not only the man of sin: he is also the man of redemption. Human history is not limited to the Fall. After Christ, even the righteous of ancient times are reached by salvation. Adam thus becomes the sign that redemption concerns not only the present or the future, but permeates all of human history from its very origin.

In Paradiso XXVI, Dante questions Adam on lofty themes: the original language, the name of God, the length of his life, and the time elapsed before liberation. Adam represents the beginning of man, but now seen from the light of fulfillment.

This is why his presence alongside the three apostles is so strong: in the same scene, the origin of humanity and the virtues that lead to God meet.

Adam is the memory of the fall.
The apostles are the path of faith.
Paradise is the sign that history can be saved.
Saint Peter: when light becomes judgment
The moral heart of the sheet is Saint Peter.

In the miniature, he is recognizable by the keys, but in the text, he becomes something even more powerful: a prophetic voice. After the chant to the Trinity, Saint Peter blazes with indignation against the corruption of the earthly Church.

This passage is one of the most powerful in the Divine Comedy. Dante places his denunciation of ecclesiastical corruption not among the damned, but in Paradise, before the light of the blessed. It’s a powerful choice: the harshest truth is spoken in the place of greatest purity.

Paradise, here, is not escape.
It’s responsibility.
It’s judgment.
It is a light that unmasks what has become corrupt on earth.

This card is therefore particularly intense because it shows Paradise not only as bliss, but as a place where human history is measured against the eternal.

Why is this card special?

This card is special because the miniatures determine its meaning in a profound and decisive way.

Folios 72r–72v are not just a textual portion of Paradise: they are a visual passage. Image and word together construct the sense of Dante’s ascent.

On the obverse, Dante and Beatrice stand before the four faces: Saint Peter, Saint James, Saint John, and Adam. It is a scene that unites apostolic faith, the theological virtues, and the origin of humanity.

On the reverse, Dante and Beatrice gaze toward the haloed figures enveloped in the luminous cloud, as their journey prepares for the passage toward the Primum Mobile.
On a single sheet, they meet:

• the origin of man, with Adam;
• the theological virtues, with the three apostles;
• the judgment on the Church, with Saint Peter;
• the order of the universe, with the Primum Mobile.

It is a card of extraordinary symbolic power, ideal for those seeking a Dantesque sheet that is not only beautiful to display, but rich in storytelling.

Why buy it?

This card tells one of the highest and most severe moments of Dante’s journey.

Here, Paradise is not just light, music, and bliss. It is also truth. Dante finds himself before the three holy apostles and Adam: before faith, hope, charity, and the very origin of humanity.

Then the vision becomes judgment. Saint Peter, keys in hand, becomes the voice denouncing the corruption of the earthly Church. It’s a powerful image: the light of Heaven doesn’t help us forget the world, but rather helps us see it better.

Finally, on the back, Dante and Beatrice continue to ascend toward the Primum Mobile, the heaven that moves the universe. The page then becomes a threshold: between history and eternity, between judgment and salvation, between human memory and the order of the cosmos.

A card for those who love Dante not only as a poet of beauty, but as a poet of truth, responsibility, and the love that moves all things.

FAQ – Divine Comedy Marciana F. 72r-72v

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