The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. Dante is barely visible in the upper right quarter (circled here in green). The stamp has text as follows: at the top: "REPUBLIQUE TOGOLAISE", "POSTES / 2020", and "800F"; at the bottom: "Le Jugement dernier (détail), 1536–1541"; and vertically along the right: "Michel-Ange 1475–1564". The stamp was printed by Stamperija, Vilnius, Lithuania.]]> Miniature Sheet - Togo - 2020]]> Divina commedia and other works as well as one fresco. Each stamp is printed either horizontally or vertically between two labels: the left label is Raphael's portrait of Dante from the artist's fresco Disputation of the Holy Sacrament in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City and the right label is a quotation from the Divina commedia relevant to the illustration on the stamp. The horizontally printed stamps have "christmas" and "peace" to the left and right of the portrait, respectively, while the vertically printed stamps have "christmas" below the portrait. At the bottom of each stamp are the denomination, air mail designation, and country in English and the denomination and country in Arabic.

Below are listed for each stamp the subject, label quotation, and illustration source (library, manuscript shelfmark, folio number, place of origin, artist, and approximate date of creation). Identification of the illustration sources was kindly provided by Melissa Conway.
  • Michel 887 – The three beasts – Inferno 1:49–51 – Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Italien 2017, f. 10v, Lombardy, Master of the Vitae Imperatorum, ca. 1440
  • Michel 888 – Pope Celestine V – Inferno 3:59–60 – Unidentified; from a manuscript of the Vaticinia de summis pontificibus
  • Michel 889 – Paolo and Francesca – Inferno 5:103–105 – Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana, 1076, f. 13v, Lombardy, ca. 1385
  • Michel 890 – Cerberus – Inferno 6:13–15 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 15r, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 891 – Dante and Virgil – Inferno 9:127–129 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 22v, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 892 – Farinata degli Uberti – Inferno 10:31–33 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 25r, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 893 – Pope Anastasius II – Inferno 11:7–9 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 28r, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 894 – Centaurs – Inferno 12:73–75 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Vat. lat. 4776, f. 42v, ca. 1390–1400
  • Michel 895 – Pier della Vigna – Inferno 13:58–61 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 33r, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 896 – Brunetto Latini – Inferno 15:31–33 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 38v, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 897 – Swindlers – Inferno 21:43–45 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 54v, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 898 – Caiaphas – Inferno 23:109–111 – Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Italien 74, f. 68r, Florence, Bartolomeo di Fruosino, ca. 1420
  • Michel 899 – Dante and Virgil – Inferno 26:31–33 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 72v, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 900 – Bocca degli Abati – Inferno 32:37–39 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 87r, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 901 – Lucifer's Legs – Inferno 34:88–90 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 95v, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 902 – Cato – Purgatorio 1:71–72 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 97r, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 903 – Angel – Purgatorio 2:43–45 – Unidentified
  • Michel 904 – Manfred – Purgatorio 3:112–113 – Unidentified; possibly from a manuscript of the Liber ad honorem Augusti
  • Michel 905 – Belacqua – Purgatorio 4:103–105 – London, British Library, Egerton 943, f. 69v, Emilia or Padua, Master of the Antiphonar of Padua, ca. 1325–1350
  • Michel 906 – Sordello – Purgatorio 6:74–75 – London, British Library, Egerton 943, f. 74r, Emilia or Padua, Master of the Antiphonar of Padua, ca. 1325–1350
  • Michel 907 – Nino Visconti – Purgatorio 8:52–54 – London, British Library, Egerton 943, f. 76v, Emilia or Padua, Master of the Antiphonar of Padua, ca. 1325–1350
  • Michel 908 – Angel – Purgatorio 17:55–57 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Urb. lat. 365, f. 145r, Urbino, Guglielmo Giraldi and assistants, ca. 1478
  • Michel 909 – Leah – Purgatorio 27:100–102 – London, British Library, Egerton 943, f. 113r, Emilia or Padua, Master of the Antiphonar of Padua, ca. 1325–1350
  • Michel 910 – Eunoe River – Purgatorio 28:121–123 – Unidentified
  • Michel 911 – Dante and Beatrice – Purgatorio 31:103–104 – London, British Library, Egerton 943, f. 121r, Emilia or Padua, Master of the Antiphonar of Padua, ca. 1325–1350
  • Michel 912 – The order of paradise – Paradiso 1:109–111 – Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Barb. lat. 4112, f. 141r, Tuscany?, 1419
  • Michel 913 – Empyrean – Paradiso 2:112–114 – London, British Library, Yates Thompson 36, f. 132r, Tuscany, Giovanni di Paolo, ca. 1450
  • Michel 914 – Justinian – Paradiso 6:10–12 – Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, It. IX, 276 (=6902), f. 56v, Veneto, ca. 1380–1400
  • Michel 915 – Rahab – Paradiso 9:112–116 – Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, It. IX, 276 (=6902), f. 59v, Veneto, ca. 1380–1400
  • Michel 916 – Saint Francis – Paradiso 11:73–75 – Assisi, fresco by Cimabue in the Basilica of Saint Francis, Lower Church, ca. 1280
  • Michel 917 – Cacciaguida – Paradiso 17:58–60 – Padua, Biblioteca del Seminario, MS 67, f. 259v, Padua, early 1400s
  • Michel 918 – Eagle of Souls – Paradiso 19:1–3 – London, British Library, Yates Thompson 36, f. 162r, Tuscany, Giovanni di Paolo, ca. 1450
  • Michel 919 – Saturn – Paradiso 21:25–27 – Modena, Biblioteca Estense, α.X.2.14 = Lat. 209, f. 4v, Milan, ca. 1450–1460
  • Michel 920 – Jesus Christ – Paradiso 23:28–30 – London, British Library, Yates Thompson 36, f. 171r, Tuscany, Giovanni di Paolo, ca. 1450
  • Michel 921 – Saint Peter – Paradiso 24:34–36 – London, British Library, Yates Thompson 36, f. 172r, Tuscany, Giovanni di Paolo, ca. 1450
]]> Vitae Imperatorum]]> "Allegorical Portrait of Dante" in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The stamp was printed by the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing.]]> Plate number report:

Plate # 28108 Printed: June 21, 1965 - Units printed: 158,945
Plate # 28109 Printed: June 21, 1965 - Units printed: 158,946
Plate # 28110 Printed: June 23, 1965 - Units printed: 156,163
Plate # 28111 Printed: June 23, 1965 - Units printed: 156,163

All of the plates were certified on June 10, 1965, and retired from further use on December 16, 1966. Source: Larson, John L. and Kim D. Johnson, comps. Bureau Issues Association Plate Number Checklist: Plates 20000–41303. Belleville, Illinois: Bureau Issues Association, Inc., 1990.

]]> First Day of Issue Ceremony Program - United States - 1965]]> Poster - United States - 1965]]> Press Photograph - United States - 1965
]]> The 1965 United States Dante Stamp. Columbus, Ohio: Silver Anchor Press, 2017.]]> De Vito, Anthony J., "The First Hundred Years of the Dante Society," Dante Studies 100 (1982): 110, 123–132.]]> COROS Chronicle 101 (April 1965): 26.]]> Inferno 3:82–84. The stamp has "700 AÑOS DE DANTE" (700 years of Dante) at the top and "$75 URUGUAY" at the bottom. Printed by Sanfer S.R.L. (Montevideo, Uruguay).]]> Miniature Sheet - Uruguay - 2021]]> This set of four stamps was issued by Vatican City to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Dante's birth. The 10-lire stamp is based on the portrait of Dante in Raphael's fresco Disputation of the Holy Sacrament in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. The other three stamps are based on Sandro Botticelli's illustrations to the Divina commedia found in a manuscript volume in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin known as MS Hamilton 201 and a manuscript in the Vatican Library known as Cod. Reg. Lat. 1896. The illustrations are as follows: Dante encounters a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf (L. 40; Inferno 1; Cod. Reg. Lat. 1896), Dante and Virgil at the foot of Mount Purgatory (L. 70; Purgatorio 3; MS Hamilton 201), and Dante and Beatrice in the heaven of the moon (L. 200; Paradiso 3; MS Hamilton 201). All of the stamps were designed by Casimira Dabrowska and each stamp was engraved by a different person: A. Quieti (L. 10), G. Denza (L. 40), M. Soccorsi (L. 70), and E. V. de Cresci (L. 200).]]> Sandro Botticelli: The Drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2000), p. 40–41, 140–141, and 222–223.]]> Portraits of Dante from Giotto to Raffael: A Critical Study with a Concise Iconography (London: Philip Lee Warner, publisher to the Medici Society Ltd.; Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1911), p. 187–203.]]> Vatican Notes 15, no. 6 (May–June 1967): 1, 3–5.]]> This postage stamp was issued as part of a joint issue with Italy and San Marino for the Giornata della Lingua Italiana (Celebration Day of the Italian Language) in 2009. It depicts a scene from the beginning of Inferno in which Dante (accompanied by Virgil in this illustration but not in the text) is blocked by three beasts. The scene is taken from a miniature in Codex Urbinate Latino 365, a fifteenth-century manuscript in the Vatican Library. Each stamp is printed adjacent to a label with the first line from Inferno 1: "Nel / mezzo / del cammin / di nostra / vita" (Midway in the journey of our life). The second and third lines of Inferno appear on the San Marino and Italy stamps, respectively. The stamp was designed by Mauro Olivieri and Orlando Tomassi and printed by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato.]]> Paradiso 24 and has text as follows: in the top right corner: "Dante Alighieri / 1321 - 2021"; at the bottom: "Città del Vaticano 1,15"; and along the bottom edge: "G. DELL'OTTO" and "CARTOR 2021". Printed by Cartor, La Loupe, France.]]> Miniature Sheet - Vatican City - 2021]]> https://www.cfn.va/en/home/2576-08-09-2021-vii-centenario-della-morte-di-dante-alighieri-serie.html]]> This postcard is a photographic reproduction of an 1883 painting by Russian Romantic artist Ivan Aivazovsky (1817–1900) showing Dante on a mountain pointing skyward. The card has a caption in Russian: "И.К. АЙВАЗОВСКІЙ – ДАНТЕ АЮБУЕТСЯ ОБЯАКАМН." (I.K. Aivazovsky – Dante admires the clouds). The card was postmarked on February 24, 1907, carries a message written in Esperanto, and is addressed to a recipient in Turin, Italy.]]> This postcard features an illustration (Il saluto di Beatrice) by A. del Senno of Beatric greeting Dante. On the verso, the card has a quotation in Italian from Dante's Vita nuova (3:1): "'...E passando per una via volse gli occhi verso quella parte ove io era molto pauroso e... mi salutò virtuosamente tanto'." (And passing along a street, she turned her eyes toward where I stood timidly and ... she greeted me so miraculously).

The card is stamped with the 10-lire Vatican City postage stamp of 1965 and was postmarked in Vatican City on September 18, 1965.

]]> Dante e Beatrice) by Olivotto of Beatrice greeting Dante with the city of Florence in the the distance.]]>
This stamp poster has been stamped and bears a first day cancel.]]> Postage Stamp - United States - 1965]]> Ạ ARMATA" (1st Army) and at the bottom is "TRENTO" (Trent).]]> veikkos-archiv.com).]]> https://schlotforum.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/at-1100-wien-abadie-papiergesellschaft-ag.]]> This poster stamp was issued by Carlo Belloni of Milan and features a paraphrase from Inferno 33:80, "Italia! Il bel paese dove il sì suona......" (Italy! The beautiful country where the "sì" is heard......) followed by the propagandistic phrase "È dovere di ogni Italiano preferire le industrie paesane." (It is the duty of every Italian to give preference to domestic industries). The stamp depicts a portrait of Dante (probably based on the Naples Bust), Cesare Zocchi's 1896 monument to Dante in Trent, and a branch. The stamp was engraved by F. Marioni.]]> This poster stamp commemorates the 600th anniversary of Dante's visit to San Gimignano as an ambassador from Florence as well as the death of Blessed Bartolo in 1300. The stamp shows the coat of arms of San Gimignano above a portrait of Bartolo and Giotto's fresco portrait of Dante. The text reads as follows: "VI CENTENARIO / dell'Ambasceria di / DANTE ALIGHIERI / e della morte del concitt.no / STO BARTOLO / SANGIMIGNANO 1899" (6th centenary of the embassy of Dante Alighieri and of the death of the fellow citizen Blessed Bartolo). The stamp was designed by Delille and printed by C. Borrani of Florence, Italy. Malorzo records a black version and a dark brown version.

The Florentine Guelfs sent Dante as an ambassador to San Gimignano where he arrived on May 7, 1300. Dante's mission was to announce the upcoming parliament where a new captain of the Guelf League of Tuscany would be elected and to solicit representatives to the parliament from San Gimignano (The Dante Encyclopedia). A contemporary of Dante, Blessed Bartolo was a Tuscan priest who dedicated much of his life to helping lepers until he succumbed to the disease in 1300.

]]> Portraits of Dante from Giotto to Raffael: A Critical Study with a Concise Iconography (London: Philip Lee Warner, publisher to the Medici Society Ltd.; Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1911), p. 73–150.]]> The Dante Encyclopedia, ed. by Richard Lansing (New York: Garland, 2000), p. 897.]]>
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Italian government approved the creation of loan programs to benefit various causes. These stamps was produced to advertise a particular program benefiting the Società Dante Alighieri which promoted Italian language and culture.]]> Pasquale Villari, "La 'Dante Alighieri' ad Udine," Nuova antologia: rivista di lettere, scienze ed arti 767 (December 1, 1903): 420–421.]]>
The stamp features a portrait of Dante in the upper left corner, St. Peter's Basilica in the upper right corner, a perched eagle clutching a fasces and banner with "S.P.Q.R." in the lower right corner, and "PREGA" (Pray) in the lower left corner. In the center of the stamp is text as follows: "L'armonia Divina / della lingua di / Dante serva ad esal- / tare la Grandezza della / Patria, la Santità della / Religione, l'amore della / Famiglia, la bellezza / della Natura e dell'Arte. / NON CONTAMINATE LA / LINGUA ITALIANA / CON LA / BESTEMMIA" (The divine harmony of Dante's language serves to exalt the greatness of the homeland, the sanctity of religion, family love, the beauty of nature and art. Do not contaminate the Italian language with blasphemy). Below the main text is additional text as follows: "COMITATO CENTRALE / ANTIBLASFEMO / DI VERONA" (Central Antiblasphemy Committee of Verona) and "SOTTO LA PRESIDEN- / ZA ONORARIA DI S.M. IL RE" (Under the honorary presidency of His Majesty the King). The printer's name and city are at the bottom: "MARENGHI & VOTTA - DESENZANO".]]> This poster stamp, likely from around 1920, is in the style of Delandre, pseudonym of Gaston Fontanille, and may have been issued by him.

The stamp depicts Cesare Zocchi's 1896 monument to Dante in Trent with the flag of the Kingdom of Italy surrounding the pedestal. At the bottom of the vignette is a quotation from Giosuè Carducci's poem from the same year "Per il monumento di Dante a Trento" (For the Monument of Dante at Trent): "Dante, si spazia da ben cinquecento / anni de l'Alpi sul tremendo spalto. / Ed or s'è fermo, e par ch'aspetti a Trento. / G. Carducci" (Dante, for the span of five hundred years has wandered the tremendous rampart of the Alps. And now he is stopped and seems to wait in Trent.)]]> 1

The stamp reproduces the woodcut portrait of Dante found in the 1521 Venice edition of his Convivio.2 The text refers to the second anniversary of the bombardment of Ancona, Italy: "XXIV Maggio MCMXV / Secundo [sic] / Anniversario / XXIV Maggio MCMXVII" (May 24, 1915, second anniversary, May 24, 1917).

Kiddle and Schmidt catalog two versions, one printed in green and brown on white paper and one printed in red and black on gray paper.3]]> 1. Brian J. Birch, "Fontanille, Gaston Aimé Camille," in "Biographies of Philatelists and Dealers," Global Philatelic Library, February 21, 2018, accessed December 4, 2020, http://www.globalphilateliclibrary.org/birch/BiographiesOfPhilatelistsDealers.pdf.

2. Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., The Portraits of Dante Compared with the Measurements of His Skull and Reclassified, Princeton Monographs in Art and Archaeology 10 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1921): 63–64, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001218985.

3. Charles Kiddle and Walter Schmidt, The Images of the Great War: Delandre World War I Vignettes: Vol. 4, Vignettes Other Than Military or Red Cross, Cinderella Stamp Club Handbook 13 (Alton, Hampshire, England: World War I Study Group, 1996): cat. no. 336.]]> Inferno 4:80 above the same portrait: "Onorate l'altissimo Poeta" (Honor the most exalted poet) and dates "1321 - 1921" below.]]> GIORNATA DELLA DANTE ALIGHIERI" (Dante Alighieri Day). Based on its style, the stamp may be from the 1970s.]]> –30, 1942, in Weimar and Florence, the meeting brought together members of the national fascist youth movements of Germany and Italy—the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and the Gioventù italiana del Littorio (Italian Youth of the Lictor). The meetings featured competitions and events organized around five themes: Music, Youth Books, Youth Press, Youth Theater, and Radio.

This stamp's theme represents unity between Italy and Germany by showing overlapping portraits of Dante and German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The portrait of Dante is Raphael's painting of the poet (reversed from the original) from the artist's fresco Disputation of the Holy Sacrament in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. The portraits are flanked by two lions. Above the lion on the left is the Roman gladius sword and shield emblem of the Gioventù italiana del Littorio; above the lion on the right is the emblem of the Hitlerjugend. The left lion holds a shield with a fleur-de-lis, symbol of Florence, and the right lion holds a shield with a fasces, symbol of fascist Italy.

The stamp has text as follows: at the top: "MANIFESTAZIONI CULTURALI"; at the bottom: "DELLA GIOVENTÙ EUROPEA". The year below the lions, "ANNO / XX·EF.", stands for "20th year of the fascist era." The fascist era began when Mussolini rose to power after his infamous march on Rome in October 1922. The 20th year ran from October 28, 1941 to October 27, 1942. Along the bottom edge is the abbreviated name of the printer, "IST. POL. STATO - OFF. CARTE VALORI" (Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Officina Carte Valori), and the designer, "M. MELIS" (Melkiorre Melis). Malorzo erroneously records this as a 1944 issue.]]> Kulturkundgebungen der Europäischen Jugend: Weimar-Florenz, 18. bis 30. Juni 1942: Wettbewerbe und Arbeitsgemeinschaften in Weimar. Weimar?: s.n., 1942. https://archive.org/details/EuropaischeJugend1942Wettbewerbe.]]> https://miles.forumcommunity.net/?t=57488707.]]>