The Revival of Classical Monsters in the Italian Renaissance

Abstract This chapter emphasizes the intellectual contributions of the Italian Renaissance (between 1445 and 1550) to post-antique depiction of classical monsters, including centaurs, sirens, sphinxes, harpies, satyrs, Tritons, Nereids, Pegasus, Cerberus, the Gorgon Medusa, Argus, and Polyphemus. Apart from Tritons and Nereids, these are all monsters mentioned in Dante’s Commedia and glossed in the commentaries to the poem. Renaissance humanists studied Greek and Latin texts with an eye to the classical authors’ historical reality. They revealed both the role played by classical monsters in the poetry of myths and the placement of their sculpted images in sacred precincts. Working in collaboration with humanists, artists restored classical monsters to their classical forms. They did so while adapting them to the new reality, imbuing their images with ethical interpretations. Renaissance innovations not only reintroduced classical monsters into contemporary culture, but also established new marvellous models for subsequent generations.