Dec 19, 2025
Beata Beatrix
Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti (British, 1828–1882)
Date: c.1864–1870
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Collection: TATE Britain
Description
Dante Gabriel Rossetti identified closely with the medieval poet Dante Alighieri. Rosetti saw his own despair at the death of his wife, the artist and poet Elizabeth Siddal, through Dante’s writings about the death of his beloved, Beatrice Portinari. Beata Beatrix pictures Siddal as Portinari in a dreamlike Florentine setting. Siddal’s death is re-imagined as a ‘spiritual transfiguration'. As an omen of death, a bird drops a white poppy between her open hands. In the background, Dante looks across at the figure of Love who holds the flame of life, and a sundial marks the time of her passing.
#painting#oil on canvas#beata beatrix#female figure#beatrice portinari#florentine setting#spiritual transfiguration#bird#poppy#figure of love#dante#forest background#british culture#british painter#oil painting#fine art#pre raphaelite#dante gabriel rossetti#british art#19th century painting#tate britain#european art#pre raphaelite brotherhood