What is Beata Beatrix?

What is Beata Beatrix?

Beata Beatrix is a painting completed in several versions by Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The painting depicts Beatrice Portinari from Dante Alighieri ‘s 1294 poem La Vita Nuova at the moment of her death.

Where did Christina Rossetti get her inspiration for Beata?

Named after the thirteenth-century poet Dante Alighieri, Rossetti found inspiration for Beata Beatrix in his namesake’s La vita nuova (The New Life; 1295). Rossetti’s scene draws a parallel between Dante’s love for the late Beatrice and his own affection for his recently deceased wife and muse, Elizabeth Siddal.

What is the significance of Beata Beatrix to Dante Gabriel Rossetti?

Debra Mancoff, “A Vision of Beatrice: The Beata Beatrix as a symbol for the middle period of the artistic development of Dante Gabriel Rossetti” (Independent study paper, Northwestern University, 1979), pp. 2-3, 8, 12-14, 16-22, 25, fig. 2, fig. 13.