''Beata Beatrix'' is a painting completed in several versions by

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

artist

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

. The painting depicts

Beatrice Portinari Beatrice "Bice" di Folco Portinari (; 1265 – 8 or 19 June 1290) was an Italian woman who has been commonly identified as the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's '' Vita Nuova'', and is also identified with the Beatrice who acts as ...

from

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's 1294 poem ''

La Vita Nuova ''La Vita Nuova'' (; modern Italian for "The New Life") or ''Vita Nova'' (Latin and medieval Italian title ) is a text by Dante Alighieri published in 1294. It is an expression of the medieval genre of courtly love in a prosimetrum style, a ...

'' at the moment of her death. The first version is oil on canvas completed in 1870.

Painting

The painting's title in English translates to ''Blessed Beatrice''. ''La Vita Nuova'' had been a story that Rossetti had found of interest from childhood and he had begun work translating it into English in 1845 and published it in his work ''The Early Italian Poets''. Rossetti modeled Beatrice after his deceased wife and frequent model,

Elizabeth Siddal Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall (25 July 1829 – 11 February 1862), better known as Elizabeth Siddal (a spelling she adopted in 1853), was an English artist, art model, and poet. Siddal was perhaps the most significant of the female models who pos ...

, who died in 1862. The painting was created from the numerous drawings that Rossetti had made of Siddal during their time together. The symbolism in the painting of a red dove, a messenger of love, relates back to Rossetti's love for Siddal with the white poppy representing

laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum'') in alcohol (ethanol). Reddish-br ...

and the means of her death. Several of Siddal's friends found the painting to bear little resemblance to the drawings of her—the facial features were harder and the neck is out of proportion. ''Beata Beatrix'' is one of Rossetti's most recognized works and has caused Siddal's name to be frequently linked with Dante Alighieri's Beatrice. In an 1873 letter to his friend

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

, Rossetti said he intended the painting "not as a representation of the incident of the death of Beatrice, but as an ideal of the subject, symbolized by a trance or sudden spiritual transfiguration." This first painting is on display in the

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

. It was a gift in memory of Francis, Baron Mount-Temple by his wife, Georgiana in 1889.

Renditions by Rossetti

Rossetti was commissioned by William Graham to paint for him a version of ''Beata Beatrix'', which Rossetti at first resisted. After stopping and starting the work, he grew to enjoy revisiting the theme, and altered the suffusion of light from the original, increasing background definition, and perhaps the idealization of the subject. This oil-on-canvas painting, dated 1871–1872, is in the main slightly larger than the original and adds a

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

(bottom panel) depicting Dante Alighieri and Beatrice meeting in paradise, the whole set within a frame designed by Rossetti. Gifted by Charles L. Hutchinson in the 1920s, it is on display at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

. Several other renditions were made by Rossetti of ''Beata Beatrix''—a watercolor, a chalk drawing and another oil painting that was begun in 1877. The last painting was still unfinished at the time of his death. His lifelong friend,

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...

, completed it. In this painting, in contrast to the original, the bird flying towards Beatrice is a white dove holding red poppies in its beak. This painting is in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England. An 1880 oil on canvas version is in the

National Galleries of Scotland The National Galleries of Scotland (, sometimes also known as National Galleries Scotland) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the Nation ...

Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Beata_Beatrix_-_Compositional_Sketch

Notes

References

External links

The Rossetti Archive: ''Beata Beatrix'' The Art Institute of Chicago: ''Beata Beatrix'' with predella
{{Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Unfinished paintings Paintings about death 1870 paintings Paintings based on La Vita Nuova Pre-Raphaelite artworks Paintings in National Galleries Scotland Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago Doves in art Paintings in the Tate galleries Bridges in art Oil on canvas paintings

Painting

Renditions by Rossetti

See also

Notes

References

External links