Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s largest painting depicts Dante’s unrequited love in a quintessential example of the Pre-Raphaelite style.
Rossetti, possibly Dante’s greatest fan, completed Dante’s Dream at the Death of Beatrice in 1871. Dante Aligheri is bestknown for his Divine Comedy, considered a literary masterpiece of the Italian language and world literature.
Known as “il Sommo Poeta” (“the Supreme Poet”), he was also famous for his autobiographic work La Vita Nuova, and it is the following stanza from this work upon which the English painter based his painting.
In this stanza, Dante tells how in a dream he was led by a personification of Love to the deathbed of his beloved Beatrice. Dante actually met Beatrice only twice in his life. However, he writes that it was her purity that struck him so deeply and caused him to fall hopelessly in love with her. Dante practised his courtship the medieval way – subtly and behind the scenes. He admired Beatrice from afar and idolized her in his writings.
Rossetti, possibly Dante’s greatest fan, completed Dante’s Dream at the Death of Beatrice in 1871. Dante Aligheri is bestknown for his Divine Comedy, considered a literary masterpiece of the Italian language and world literature.
Known as “il Sommo Poeta” (“the Supreme Poet”), he was also famous for his autobiographic work La Vita Nuova, and it is the following stanza from this work upon which the English painter based his painting.
Then Love said: “Now shall all
things be made clear:
Come and behold our lady where
she lies.”
These ‘wildering fantasies
Then carried me to see my lady
dead.
Even as I there was led,
Her ladies with a veil were covering
her
And with her was such a very
humbleness
That she appeared to say, “I am
at peace.”
things be made clear:
Come and behold our lady where
she lies.”
These ‘wildering fantasies
Then carried me to see my lady
dead.
Even as I there was led,
Her ladies with a veil were covering
her
And with her was such a very
humbleness
That she appeared to say, “I am
at peace.”
In this stanza, Dante tells how in a dream he was led by a personification of Love to the deathbed of his beloved Beatrice. Dante actually met Beatrice only twice in his life. However, he writes that it was her purity that struck him so deeply and caused him to fall hopelessly in love with her. Dante practised his courtship the medieval way – subtly and behind the scenes. He admired Beatrice from afar and idolized her in his writings.
In the painting, a dreaming Dante is led by Love to Beatrice just before she is carried off from this world forever. Dante’s unrequited love for Beatrice glows as Love gives Beatrice the kiss that Dante never gave.
Two attendant figures clad in green robes suspend a canopy over Beatrice as they cast sad glances at the poet. Blossoms cover the pall, and the floor is strewn with poppies.
A heart can be seen behind the pall, and above it hangs a lamp that is fading. Two scarlet birds, the colour of love, fly throughout the room as angels hover outside the window, ready to carry Beatrice to heaven.
A group of English painters, poets, and critics founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. Rossetti’s attempt to link poetry, painting, and social idealism together contributed to the Brotherhood’s guiding principles and was key to its formation.
The Brotherhood encouraged artists to apply their own understandings and ideas to their art. The spiritual and creative integrity of medieval culture particularly intrigued the group. The Brotherhood tried to revive the aesthetic style prominent before that of the Renaissance artist Raphael.
The colour green dominates this work; even the skin tones have green hues. The figure Love contrasts with this by his red attire, and Beatrice stands out in her pale brightness.
The limited palette serves to spotlight the central figures. Orthogonal lines all point toward the central images, Love giving Beatrice a kiss. The gazes of the other figures and even the ceiling lines all point toward the centre. Exits on both sides point both into and out of the central scene.
Pre-Raphaelite art was heavy with symbolism. The exits show how singular and lonely Dante was in his unrequited love for Beatrice. The rest of the world outside the frames of the painting continued its daily activities while Dante watches Beatrice dying. But Dante himself described the scene as Florence mourning her passing, as the viewer sees church bells in the distance ringing.
Love holds an arrow in his hand pointed at Dante’s heart, and a branch of apple blossoms, which symbolize Dante’s love that never bore fruit – “plucked before the coming of fruit”.
Poppies on the floor symbolize death, while sprigs of hawthorn in the attendants’ hair show their connection with death. The dying lamp above the canopy symbolizes the end of Dante’s love for Beatrice. Both the vivid colours and extensive symbolism in this painting work to make it a quintessential example of Pre-Raphaelite art.
The original work was too large to fit the walls of the first buyer, so a perturbed Rossetti took the painting back and resold it several times before its final home at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool, England.
Two attendant figures clad in green robes suspend a canopy over Beatrice as they cast sad glances at the poet. Blossoms cover the pall, and the floor is strewn with poppies.
A heart can be seen behind the pall, and above it hangs a lamp that is fading. Two scarlet birds, the colour of love, fly throughout the room as angels hover outside the window, ready to carry Beatrice to heaven.
A group of English painters, poets, and critics founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. Rossetti’s attempt to link poetry, painting, and social idealism together contributed to the Brotherhood’s guiding principles and was key to its formation.
The Brotherhood encouraged artists to apply their own understandings and ideas to their art. The spiritual and creative integrity of medieval culture particularly intrigued the group. The Brotherhood tried to revive the aesthetic style prominent before that of the Renaissance artist Raphael.
The colour green dominates this work; even the skin tones have green hues. The figure Love contrasts with this by his red attire, and Beatrice stands out in her pale brightness.
The limited palette serves to spotlight the central figures. Orthogonal lines all point toward the central images, Love giving Beatrice a kiss. The gazes of the other figures and even the ceiling lines all point toward the centre. Exits on both sides point both into and out of the central scene.
Pre-Raphaelite art was heavy with symbolism. The exits show how singular and lonely Dante was in his unrequited love for Beatrice. The rest of the world outside the frames of the painting continued its daily activities while Dante watches Beatrice dying. But Dante himself described the scene as Florence mourning her passing, as the viewer sees church bells in the distance ringing.
Love holds an arrow in his hand pointed at Dante’s heart, and a branch of apple blossoms, which symbolize Dante’s love that never bore fruit – “plucked before the coming of fruit”.
Poppies on the floor symbolize death, while sprigs of hawthorn in the attendants’ hair show their connection with death. The dying lamp above the canopy symbolizes the end of Dante’s love for Beatrice. Both the vivid colours and extensive symbolism in this painting work to make it a quintessential example of Pre-Raphaelite art.
The original work was too large to fit the walls of the first buyer, so a perturbed Rossetti took the painting back and resold it several times before its final home at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool, England.
