In 1868, Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted Jane Morris as La Pia de Tolomei. Pia appears in Canto V of Purgatorio in the Divine Comedy. Pia’s story is a sad one. Dante encountered her during his journey through Purgatory, where she remains since she has died without absolution. She says to Dante “remember me, the one who is Pia; Siena made…
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Early Death by Elizabeth Siddal Oh grieve not with thy bitter tears The life that passes fast; The gates of heaven will open wide And take me in at last. Then sit down meekly at my side And watch my young life flee; Then solemn peace of holy death Come quickly unto thee. But true…
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Sometimes my reading life is haphazard and I dip into whatever strikes me fancy. (The right book, more often than not, seems to find me instead of the other way around.) Other times, I get a great deal of joy in creating an active reading plan to pursue. On Monday I posted William Michael Rossetti’s…
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The works of John William Waterhouse often blend feminine beauty and mystery. Above is Circe Invidiosa, his depiction of the goddess Circe. With a sumptuous blend of greens and blues, he created a world that draws us in and mesmerizes. It’s as if you can feel yourself transported into Circe’s world. You can hear the water…
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“In the middle of the journey of our life, I found myself in a dark wood, for the straight path was lost” So begins Dante’s journey through Inferno (hell), Purgatorio (purgatory), and Paradiso (paradise). His travels through these three areas of the afterlife make up La Divina Commedia, the Divine Comedy. I came to the…
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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…
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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…
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Scottish author James Hannay once described his wife Margaret as the ‘sugarplum of the universe’. Dante Gabriel Rossetti captured the sugarplum’s beauty in the sketch above, drawn a few weeks before the couple wed. Margaret also appears as Beatrice in the original watercolor Dante’s Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice (1856)….
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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…
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Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted La Pia de Tolomei at the beginning of his affair with Jane Morris, the wife of his friend William Morris. In this painting, Jane models as La Pia, from Dante Alighieri’s poem the Divine Comedy. La Pia is found by Dante during his travel through Purgatory, in Part II of the…
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Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted Beata Beatrix as a tribute after the death of his wife Elizabeth Siddal. DGR had always idolized Dante, the author of Vita Nuova. In Vita Nuova, Beatrice is Dante’s unrequited love. In Beata Beatrix, Rossetti painted Elizabeth Siddal as Beatrice, merging his love and Dante’s into one. Rossetti painted several versions…
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These pre-shrunk Gildan brand shirts feature an image of Elizabeth Siddal at an easel, painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Buy yours today! Thank you for supporting PreRaphaeliteSisterhood.com. You can also follow on Twitter and Facebook.