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Lot Essay
The title of this box construction refers to the story of Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, 13th-century Italians relegated to the second circle of Hell in Dante's Inferno, along with other tragic lovers. There are four known versions of the Paolo and Francesca theme, which Cornell made between 1940 and 1948. This work is the second in the series. Sandra Starr has speculated about the origins of this series, referencing in particular a photograph taken of the artist's parents circa 1914.
In the photograph (fig. 1), Helen and Joseph Cornell are pictured seated in profile in the parlor of their neo-gothic house. Starr writes "The photograph was made three years prior to the death of Joseph Cornell, Sr. In the 1916-1917 season, Zadonai's opera Paolo and Francesca, based on Gabriel D'Annunzio's novel, was performed several times at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Cornell's parents were both opera fans, and perhaps Cornell is paying homage to the last moments of the idyll of his family life prior to 1917" (op. cit. p. 31). Cornell's parents, if represented by the 19th century engraved images of Paolo and Francesca, are not consigned in death to Hell, but rather to a romantic moonlit afterlife.
(fig. 1) Cornell's parents at home, circa 1914. Joseph Cornell Study Centre, NCFA.
In the photograph (fig. 1), Helen and Joseph Cornell are pictured seated in profile in the parlor of their neo-gothic house. Starr writes "The photograph was made three years prior to the death of Joseph Cornell, Sr. In the 1916-1917 season, Zadonai's opera Paolo and Francesca, based on Gabriel D'Annunzio's novel, was performed several times at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Cornell's parents were both opera fans, and perhaps Cornell is paying homage to the last moments of the idyll of his family life prior to 1917" (op. cit. p. 31). Cornell's parents, if represented by the 19th century engraved images of Paolo and Francesca, are not consigned in death to Hell, but rather to a romantic moonlit afterlife.
(fig. 1) Cornell's parents at home, circa 1914. Joseph Cornell Study Centre, NCFA.