Death of Count Ugolino and his Sons
by PIERINO DA VINCI, Bronze
In Pisa, Pierino began the relief of the Death of Count Ugolino and his Sons, a subject at once Pisan and Dantesque, suggested to him by Luca Martini. Already known through numerous versions in different materials (wax and terracotta, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and private collection, Florence), the original bronze version, mentioned by Vasari, was lost and has been identified at Chatsworth in 2010.
The subject is taken from Canto XXXIII of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The writer, led by Virgil, encounter in Hell Ugolino della Gherardesca. The count recounts the punishment he has suffered: he was imprisoned in a tower, condemned to starve to death in gaol. According to legend, Ugolino died after eating his own sons and grandsons who shared his cell.