Beata Beatrix

Beata Beatrix is an oil on canvas painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, completed in 1872. It depicts Beatrice Portinari from Dante Alighieri's poem La Vita Nuova at the moment of her death. Rossetti modeled Beatrice after his deceased wife and frequent model Elizabeth Siddal. In an 1873 letter to his friend William Morris, Rossetti said he intended the painting "not as a representation of the incident of the death of Beatrice... more

Beata Beatrix is an oil on canvas painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, completed in 1872. It depicts Beatrice Portinari from Dante Alighieri's poem La Vita Nuova at the moment of her death. Rossetti modeled Beatrice after his deceased wife and frequent model Elizabeth Siddal. In an 1873 letter to his friend William Morris, 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." The painting is on display in the Tate Britain. The idea for Julie Hearn's Ivy came from this painting. (http://www.julie-hearn.com/ivy.htm) less