''Dante's Dream'' (full title ''Dante's Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice'') is an oil on canvas

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

from

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Bapaume – Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

by the English

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

painter

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

. It hangs in the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

, in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. He repeated a composition he had done in

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

and

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...

at a smaller scale in 1856. This is now in

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

, measuring 48.7 cm (19.1 in) by 66.2 cm (26 in). Rossetti had a lifelong interest in the Italian poet

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

. The painting was inspired by Dante's poem ''

La Vita Nuova ''La Vita Nuova'' (; modern Italian for "The New Life") or ''Vita Nova'' (Latin and medieval Italian title ) is a text by Dante Alighieri published in 1294. It is an expression of the medieval genre of courtly love in a prosimetrum style, a ...

''. In this poem Dante dreams that he is led to the death-bed of

Beatrice Portinari Beatrice "Bice" di Folco Portinari (; 1265 – 8 or 19 June 1290) was an Italian woman who has been commonly identified as the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's '' Vita Nuova'', and is also identified with the Beatrice who acts as ...

, who was the object of his unfulfilled love. Dante, in black, stands looking towards the dying Beatrice who is lying on a bed. Two female figures in green hold a canopy over her. An angel in red holds Dante's hand and leans forward to kiss Beatrice. In the painting, Rossetti creates a visionary world with complex symbols. The symbols include the green clothes of Beatrice's attendants, signifying hope; spring flowers in the foreground symbolising purity; and red doves for love. It is Rossetti's largest painting. The model for Beatrice was

Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and an artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband Will ...

, the wife of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

. Alexa Wilding & Marie Stillman posed as the grieving hand maidens. The Walker Art Gallery bought the painting directly from the artist in 1881 for £1575 (equivalent to £ in ). The acquisition was negotiated by Victorian novelist

Hall Caine Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (14 May 1853 – 31 August 1931), usually known as Hall Caine, was a British novelist, dramatist, short story writer, poet and critic of the late 19th and early 20th century. Caine's popularity during his lifetim ...

. In 1897 it was sent to Berlin to be photographed, but was then noted to be "in a dirty condition". Again in 1904 the painting was noted to be in "a bad condition" and it was considered that its condition had been worsened by its journey to and from Berlin. The painting was sent in 1908 to the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

in London to be relined, that is, for a new canvas to be glued to the original. It was then returned to Liverpool. During the Second World War, it was removed from its stretcher, rolled and stored in the basement of the gallery. In 1941 the painting was moved, together with other large paintings from the gallery, to

Ellesmere College Ellesmere College is a co-educational boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located in Shropshire, near the market town of Ellesmere. Belonging to the Woodard Corporation, it was founded in 1884 by Canon Nathaniel ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. It was noted at this time that it had sustained some damage. Conservation work was carried out on the painting in 1960 and in 1985. ''Dante's Dream'' is a painting in

oil on canvas Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or copper for several centuries. ...

, measuring by . It was examined in 2003 and found to be in good condition, with no evidence of any recurrence of the former problems.

References

External links

All texts and images for ''Dante's Dream'' in Rossetti Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dante's Dream 1871 paintings Paintings based on La Vita Nuova Paintings about death Paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Paintings in the Walker Art Gallery Paintings of Dante Alighieri Angels in art

See also

References

External links