Images of great florentines' muses as presented in the russian literature of the 19-20th centuries (Beatrice, Laura, Simonetta)

The article is a part of the research devoted to the study of personal Florentine myths as they are presented in Russian literature, based on the universal myth of the City of Flowers. Personal myths comprise both the primary motifs of the universal myth, those of stone, garden, flower, colors as well as its secondary ones - the motifs of the past, circle and tower. We believe that the universal myth was created by the eminent Florentines - by writers, artists, architects, sculptors, political and religious figures and that the Russian authors in addition to mere perception and transfer of this myth to Russian background managed to develop the personal myths of its creators. It is impossible to think of the Florentine myth creators without their muses. In fact, Dante, Petrarch and Botticelli, two famous authors and an outstanding artist, in their creative activity were inspired by Beatrice, Laura, and Simonetta, respectively. The first part of the article deals with Beatrice Portinari (1266-1290), whose name and image were preserved in A. Herzen's letters, in N.A. Nek-rasov's rendering of the short novel by A. Marchenko, in the poems by K. Balmont, N. Gumelev, and O. Mandelstam. For each of these authors as it used to be for Dante, Beatrice was an incarnation of an ideal, of an unattainable dream. Her relationship with the creator of The Divine Comedy had been underlain by a Platonic touch. The second part of the article contains the information on Laura de Noves (1308-1448). The scholars still keep arguing of the reality of her existence. To Petrarch Laura was said to be not only an elevated love but a symbol of poetry, of his poetic glory, his evergreen laurel. It is this image of Laura that appears in F. Veselovsky's article Petrarch in his Poetic Confession 'the Canzoniere' (1453-1476), in the poems by Vyach. Ivanov, in the novel by K.Vaginov The Goat's Song. The third part of the article focuses on Simonetta Vespucci (14531476), a love of Giuliano Medici and a prototype of the renowned and never-fading, as the City of Flowers, canvases by Botticelli - The Birth of Venus, Primavera, Magnificat Madonna, etc. Simonetta is mentioned in the poems by Vyach. Ivanov and M. Kuzmin, in E. Rastopchina's short novel Palazzo Forli. She has become a synonym of earthly and yet of a strikingly spiritual and fleeting beauty. Summing it all up we would like to emphasize that Dante's craving for an ideal is closely connected with Beatrice, that Petrarch appreciated his artistic recognition to the extent he appreciated Laura, that Simonetta due to the unsurpassed canvases by Botticelli is an ever-lasting embodiment of femininity.

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