refuge with Cangrande DELLA SCALAin Verona and finally
with Guido da Polenta in Ravenna, where he died. The
Vita Nuova (New Life; 1292–1300), lyrics joined by prose
commentaries, concerns Dante’s love for Beatrice, a figure
who later plays a major role in the DIVINE COMEDY. The
historical existence of Beatrice is doubtful; she was per-
haps the daughter of Folco Portinari, later the wife of Si-
mone de’ Bardi, and died in 1290. Dante says that he met
her when she was nine and again when she was 18 years
old. He finds solace for his grief at her death in the con-
solation of philosophy (as conceived by Cicero and
Boethius). The Convivio (Feast; 1304–08) and the Latin
treatise De vulgari eloquentia (On Eloquence in the Vernacu-
lar Tongue; after 1304) are unfinished. The former alter-
nates poems with prose explanations but only four of the
proposed 14 sections are complete. The latter discusses
the origin and growth of languages and the use of the ver-
nacular in poetry; it looks forward to issues raised in the
QUESTIONE DELLA LINGUA. Among other works are De
monarchia (On World Government), a treatise of doubtful
date presenting Dante’s argument for a temporal power
centered in Rome, and Canzoniere, poems inspired by
Beatrice but excluded from Vita Nuova. Dante also wrote a
number of other miscellaneous poems and several Latin
epistles.
Further reading: Patrick Boyde, Dante Philomythes
and Philosopher: Man in the Cosmos (Cambridge, U.K.:
Cambridge University Press, 1981); Cecil Grayson (ed.),
The World of Dante: Essays on Dante and His Times (Ox-
ford, U.K.: Clarendon Press and New York: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1980); Robert Hollander, Dante: A Life in
Works (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001);
George Holmes, Dante (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University
Press and New York: Hill & Wang, 1980); Rachel Jacoff
(ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Dante (Cambridge,
U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
Dante chair See FURNITURE
Danti, Vincenzo (1530–1576) Italian goldsmith and
sculptor
His earliest sculpture is a monumental bronze figure, Pope
Julius III Enthroned, outside the cathedral (1553–56) of his
native Perugia. From 1557 until 1573 Danti worked as a
court sculptor to Duke Cosimo I in Florence. His master-
piece there was a bronze group on the baptistery, the Be-
heading of St. John the Baptist (1571): these and all his
other figures are gracefully elongated and set in balletic
poses characteristic of mannerist sculpture (see MANNER-
ISM). For the Medici he cast in bronze a large narrative re-
lief of Moses and the Brazen Serpent for the altar frontal of
a chapel and a cupboard door (1561), both now in the
Bargello, as well as a statuette of Venus Anadyomene for the
Studiolo of Francesco I in the Palazzo Vecchio (c. 1573).
Danti also carved marble statuary during the 1560s (e.g.
Honor triumphant over Falsehood and Duke Cosimo I, both
in the Bargello). He published in 1567 a treatise on pro-
portion, the Primo libro del trattato delle perfette propor-
tioni, and retired after 1573 to Perugia, where he was
appointed public architect and was a founder member of
the Accademia del Disegno. Danti’s sculpture has a deli-
cacy of detail and an elegance of line reminiscent of other
goldsmiths-turned-sculptor, such as GHIBERTIand CELLINI.Danube School The collective name given various 16th-
century artists working in the region of the River Danube
in southern Germany and Austria. Although links can be
established between particular individuals, the artists
never functioned as a group, and opinions differ widely on
exactly which artists should be accounted members. The
unifying theme of their work, however, is love of land-
scape for its own sake; the Danube artists can be seen to
have introduced landscape painting into German art. The
painters usually seen as having developed the Danube
style are Lucas CRANACHin his early years, Jörg Breu
(c. 1475–1537), and Rueland Frueauf the Younger, all of
whom probably visited Vienna during the first five years
of the 16th century. The workshop of Jörg Kölderer, court
painter to Emperor Maximilian I, may have provided a
focus here. Albrecht ALTDORFERis generally considered
the outstanding representative of the Danube style, which
was continued by Wolfgang HUBERand many other minor
figures. It is usually taken to apply to painters, but sculp-
tors, architects, and other artists were also influenced
by it.Danzig (Polish Gdansk) A city and port at the mouth of
the River Vistula on the Baltic Sea, now in north Poland.
First mentioned as a Polish city in the late 10th century,
Danzig gained municipal self-government (1260) and be-
came an important Hanse town (see HANSEATIC LEAGUE)
and trading center by the end of the Middle Ages. After its
long occupation by the TEUTONIC KNIGHTS(1308–1466),
Danzig was regained by King Casimir IV of Poland. Under
Polish rule in the 15th and 16th centuries Danzig became
the most prosperous Baltic port, exporting grain and tim-
ber and developing a successful shipbuilding industry; its
first warship was launched in 1572. In 1520 Danzig was
involved in the Polish Teutonic war. In 1525 King Sigis-
mund I of Poland intervened to crush the artisans who
had seized church property and proclaimed the city’s ad-
herence to LUTHER.Datini, Francesco di Marco (“the Merchant of Prato”)
(c. 1335–1410) Italian merchant
From his home town of Prato, near Florence, Datini built
up a trading empire in northern Italy, Avignon, Aragon,
and Majorca. After 1378 he settled in Florence, joined the
silk guild there, and used his surplus wealth to embark on
banking. His letters and account books have survived, af-113344 DDaannttee cchhaaiirr