La Divina Commedia, Purgatorio XXXI. The earthly paradise: Dante's confession; Beatrice reveals her face

Purgatorio 31 is one of the turning points of the Commedia. As Dante approaches the end of Purgatory, his lost love Beatrice appears in a magnificent chariot to escort him into the higher realm of Paradise. The circle of dancing nymphs and the elegantly animated rendering of hairs and drapery are truly Botticellian and reflect motifs of the artist´s most famous paintings, like the Primavera or the Birth of Venus. These works are the most impressive examples that show that drawing, more than painting and any other form of art, reveals in a truly intimate way the thought process of the artist, by expressing the movement of the mind through the very movement of the metalpoint or pen on the parchment.