The Virgins of the Rocks

Gabriele D'Annunzio

General Gabriele D'Annunzio, Prince of Montenevoso, sometimes written d'Annunzio as he used to sign himself, was an Italian poet, playwright, orator, journalist, aristocrat, and Royal Italian Army officer during World War I. He occupied a prominent place in Italian literature from 1889 to 1910 and in its political life from 1914 to 1924. He had the epithets il Profeta and il Vate : vate stems from the Latin vates, meaning a prophetic, divinatory, or inspirational poet.