“Give me my robe, put on my crown;
I have immortal longings in me”

Dante
front and prominent with Petrarch next to him
and four other renowned Italian poets behind him
is seated on a Savonarola chair in front of a table
covered in a green clothe. Robed in soft flowing pink

Dante
holds a book of Virgil’s poems. Petrarch holds a book
of his own poems. The poets are rosy faced and garbed
in robes accented with touches of carmine- on the table
two books, an ink well, a protractor and two blue globes.

The portrait
believed to represent the history of Italian poetry
reminds me of a Renaissance painting of Christ and his disciples.
The great historical achievements in literature, religion and science
seem to be represented by “rosy men in robes.”