Discussion with Dante [与但丁讨论神曲]
Imagine if you’re to invite the world’s most famous people of all time, all together for a portrait photo, what would that look like? Needless to say, that is plain impossible because 99% of them are dead and the 1% living fellows are not likely going appreciate taking photo with dead people… But don’t give up hope, someone actually made that happen, by drawing. A coworker gave me this funny photo which seems to circulate quite popularly on the web a few months ago.
Update: I finally found out that this piece of art “Discussion with Dante” was jointly paint by Dai Dudu, Li Tiezi and Zhang Anjun. 油画《与但丁讨论神曲》是著名油画家戴都都、李铁子、张安君新近创作的巨作。
Make sure you view these 2 pictures in full size, by clicking on the arrow at bottom right of it. First picture is full size 2600×1127 pixels (601KB).
This one has a grid on it to help associate with table cells below, full size is 1400×664 pixels (498KB).
Here’s how to play:
- Click here to see the table of names
- For each cell on the grid photo, look at the corresponding table rows and see if there are unidentifed people that you might know
- Leave a comment indicating the name of the person, a native name if applicable, a description and the cell number where that person is found.
I’ll update the table using your feedbacks. Please also help me identify the author of the photo, I’d love to see the high resolution version of it. Thank you very much for participating!
| Cell | English name | Native name | Description |
| A1 | Archimedes | Άρχιμήδης | Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor and astronomer |
| Vladimir Lenin | Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин | Russian communist politician | |
| Bill Gates | William Henry Gates III | Microsoft CEO, American entrepreneur, world richess man | |
| Cui Jian | 崔健 | Chinese singer and musician | |
| A2 | Pelé | Edison Arantes do Nascimento | Brasilian football player |
| Guan Yu | 关羽 | Army general during the Three Kingdoms era of China | |
| Adolf Hitler | Chancellor of Nazi Germany | ||
| Mussolini | Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini | Prime Minister of facist Italy | |
| Audrey Hepburn | Audrey Kathleen van Heemstra Ruston | Belgium-born actresse, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador | |
| Unknown | |||
| A3 | Lei Feng | 雷鋒 | A soldier of the People’s Liberation Army of PRC |
| Charlie Chaplin | Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr. | English comedy artor | |
| Harrison Ford | American actor | ||
| B1 | Bill Clinton | William Jefferson Clinton | 42rd President of the United States |
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| B2 | Sun Yat-sen | 孫逸仙 孫中山 |
Chinese revolutionary and political leader, the “Farmer of modern China” |
| Deng Xiaoping | 邓小平 | Chinese politician and reformer | |
| Saddam Hussein |
صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي | President of Iraq | |
| Charles de Gaulle |
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle | General and President of the French Fifth Republic | |
| Margaret Thatcher | Margaret Hilda Thatcher | Prime Minister of UK | |
| Tutankhamun | Tutankhaten | Egyptian Pharaoh of the Eighteen Dynasty | |
| Unknown | |||
| B3 | Sigmund Freud | Sigismund Schlomo Freud | Czech Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist |
| Vladimir Putin | Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин | President of the Russian Federation | |
| Norman Bethune | Henry Norman Bethune | Canada physicians, medical innovation, humanitarians | |
| Unknown | |||
| B4 | Mike Tyson | Michael Gerard Tyson | American boxer |
| C1 | Bruce Lee | 李小龍 | Hong Kong martial arts movie actor |
| Winston Churchill | Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill | British Prime Minister during WWII | |
| Unknown | |||
| C2 | Joseph Stalin | Иосиф Сталин | Leader of the Soviet Union |
| Elvis Presley | Elvis Aaron Presley | American singer, musician and actor, The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll | |
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| C3 | Queen Elizabeth II | Elizabeth Alexandra Mary | Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth |
| Shirley Temple | American movie actresse and diplomat | ||
| Chiang Kai-shek | 蔣中正 | China statesman, strategist | |
| Unknown | |||
| D1 | Genghis Khan | 成吉思汗 Temüjin | Founder of the Mongol Empire |
| D2 | Karl Marx | Karl Heinrich Marx | Prussia philosopher, political economist and revolutionary, the Father of Communism |
| Mozart | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Austrian componist | |
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| D3 | Albert Einstein | German-born theorical physicist | |
| E1 | Napoleon I | Napoléon Bonaparte | Emperor of the French First Republic |
| Unknown | |||
| E2 | Abraham Lincoln | 16th President of the United States | |
| Mao Zedong | 毛泽东 | Communist leader of PRC | |
| Zhou Enlai | 周恩来 | Premier of PRC | |
| Laozi | 老子 | Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism | |
| George Washington | First President of the United States | ||
| Marie Curie | Maria Skłodowska-Curie | Polish physicist and chemist | |
| E3 | Darwin | Charles Robert Darwin | English naturalist, theory of evolution |
| Confucius | 孔夫子 | Chinese thinker and social philosopher | |
| Li Bai | 李白 | Chinese poet | |
| F1 | Fidel Castro | Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz | Cuba president and revolutionary leader |
| Marlon Brando | Marlon Brando, Jr. | American actor – The Godfather | |
| Yasser Arafat | محمد عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني | Palestinian revolutionary and leader | |
| Unknown | |||
| F2 | Marilyn Monroe | Norma Jeane Mortensen | American actresse, singer, model, Hollywood icon, sex symbol |
| Unknown | |||
| F3 | Gandi | મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી | Political and spiritual leader of India |
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| Unknown | |||
| G1 | Osama bin Laden | أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن | Islamist militant |
| Liu Xiang | 刘翔 | Chinese athlete, World Record Holder of 110 hurdles | |
| G2 | George W. Bush | George Walker Bush | 43rd President of the Unites States |
| Luciano Pavarotti | Italian tenor | ||
| Empress Dowager Cixi | 慈禧太后 | De facto ruler of Qing Dynasty | |
| Prince Charles | Charles Philip Arthur George | The Prince of Wales | |
| Kofi Annan | Kofi Atta Annan | Secretary-general of the United Nations | |
| Qin Shi Huang | 秦始皇 | First Emperor of China | |
| Qi Baishi | 齐白石 | Chinese painter, sculpter | |
| Hideki Tojo | 東條 英機 | Prime Minister of Japan during WWII | |
| Ariel Sharon | Ariel Scheinermann | Prime Minister of Israel | |
| Unknown | |||
| G3 | Michael Jordan | Michael Jeffrey Jordan | American professional basketball player |
| Picasso | Pablo Ruiz Picasso | Spanish painter and sculpter | |
| Unknown | |||
| H1 | Dante | Dante Alighieri | Italian poet from Florence |
| Dai Dudu | 戴都都 | Chinese paint | |
| Li Tiezi | 李铁子 | Chinese paint | |
| Zhang Anjun | 张安君 | Chinese paint | |
| H2 | Mikhail Gorbachev | Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв | Last President of the Soviet Union |
| Mother Teresa | Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu | Roman Catholic nun, humanitarian | |
| Song Qing Ling | 宋庆龄 | Vice Chairman of the PRC | |
| Rabindranath Tagore | রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, | Bengali poet, philosopher, visual artist, novelist | |
| Mei Lanfang | 梅兰芳 | Beijing opera artist | |
| Rousseau | Jean-Jacques Rousseau | French political philosopher | |
| Otto von Bismarck | Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck | President of Prussia | |
| H3 | Qi Jiguang | 戚继光 | Chinese military general during Ming Dynasty |
| Unknown |
Thanks for all the comments… Last updated at 2008/04/18.
April 15th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
B3 Henry Norman Bethune 亨利·若尔曼·白求恩 M.D., Canada physicians, medical innovation, humanitarians
April 15th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
C3 Chiang Kai-shek 蒋中正 China statesman, strategist
April 18th, 2008 at 12:53 am
hey, that pic is really cool
D2 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian componist
E3 Moses?
April 18th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
A1
Lenin
A2
Pele
GuangGong
Adolf Hitler
B2
Dr. Sun Yat Sen
B4
Mike Tyson
C1
Bruce Lee
C2
Elvis Presley
D2
William Shakespheare
D4
Albert Einstein
E1
Napoleon Bonaparte
E2
Chairman Mao
Abraham Lincoln
E3
Noah
Laoze
F1
Yasser Ararafat
Alexander the Great
F3
Mahatma Gandhi
G3
Michael Jordan
G2
Ariel Sharon
H1
Julius Caesar?
October 15th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Where can this painting be seen? Where has it been exhibited?
Is there any commentary in English about it available?
Thanks so much.
December 7th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Hi! I’ll help to find all the answers… Here my first contribution:
A2 – Ludwig Van Beethoven (in the piano).
A3 – I don’t think is Harrison Ford. It’s too old.
C2 – the old man “could” be Alfred Hitchcock… maybe.
D2 – William Shakespeare (top left, with a book), Pablo Picasso (red shirt, Lincoln’s left).
December 7th, 2008 at 10:38 am
More:
B2 – George Armstrong Custer (arms crossed)
C2/C3 – The lady is Queen Elizabeth II
D2 – Around the table: Leonardo da Vinci (over his ‘Man of Vitruvio’), Friedrich Nietzsche (talking to Karl Marx)
E1 – Ernesto “Che” Guevara
E3 – It can’t be Darwin
F1 – It’s probably Julius Caesar
F3 – Could be Van Gogh
H3 – Could be Noah
December 18th, 2008 at 5:00 am
F1 it could be Kirk Douglas in the role of spartacus
And there is a part of the solution here
http://www.patricksemaan.com/projektcyan/?p=592
March 21st, 2009 at 4:12 pm
You forgot the Beatles and MM Lee Kuan Yew. E3 has to be the Prophet Moses.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:49 am
d2-Socrates
March 5th, 2010 at 5:19 am
A football fan’s guide to Cape Town
May 18th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
hey,just identified your Blog when i google something and wonder what web hosting do you use for your website,the speed is more faster than my blog, i really need it.will back to check it out,thanks!
May 21st, 2010 at 10:41 am
Fidel Castro would always be an icon of history evethough he is against the U.S.*,”
May 25th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Wasn’t he involved in some sort of a strange gun incident
June 26th, 2010 at 4:55 am
We read this post and desired to say thank you personally. Clear and helpful!
June 30th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
No one will beat the king which is Elvis Presley.,`:
July 19th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Fidel Castro still have some good legacies despite his not so good repuation..–
July 20th, 2010 at 8:50 am
who could have not known the greatest musician of the decade. Elvis is the king.”;-
August 31st, 2010 at 2:29 pm
i always love the songs of Elvis Presley, there would be no other singer like him,;;