In reality, Dante loved Beatrice from a distance and they had little to no contact with one another. The real Beatrice Portinari probably never had any idea of the depth of his passion for her. Yet she was to become one of literature’s most famous figures. Dante Alighieri first saw and fell in love with Beatrice when he was nine years…
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Victorian poet, painter and co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, grew up in the shadow of Dante Alighieri. Although he lived several centuries before, Medieval poet Alighieri was a permanent fixture in the Rossetti household. Rossetti’s father, Professor Gabriele Rossetti, was an Italian expatriate who came to London in 1824. He was a Mason and he believed that…
Although Rossetti painted Jane Morris repeatedly, it is a bit unusual to see her painted as Beatrice. Beatrice, Dante Alighieri’s unrequited love, is a character Rossetti strongly associated with Elizabeth Siddal. There is another painting of Jane Morris as Beatrice at The Rossetti Archive titled The Salutation of Beatrice, also known as The Lady in the Blue Dress. One thing…
