Original artwork description:

Ink drawing on paper representing the imaginary portrait of a Sienese gentlewoman of the thirteenth century, Pia de' Tolomei (born Siena and died in Maremma), mentioned in the Divine Comedy by Dante in the fifth canto of Purgatory. Victim of an unhappy married life, she would have been murdered by her husband who made her fall from a window of his manor, Castel di Pietra: the cliff below, now the subject of archaeological excavations, is called "Leap of the Countess". The fame of Pia de' Tolomei is documented by numerous books, films on her story, an opera by Gaetano Donizetti who revived the myth in the nineteenth century, as well as a rock song by the Sienese singer Gianna Nannini of which I have adopted the title.

Materials used:

Ink on paper

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