{"data":{"id":16551,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/16551","is_boosted":true,"title":"Beata Beatrix","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAwAFAPMAAD4tF188G1o8HX5iPXJhQIBoP4RqQ4prQo5uRY1sR4VtTodwT5Z2SZyGWaGGWgAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAADAAUAAAQL0LF2RCEgmYDUWBEAOw==","width":5001,"height":7319,"alt_text":"Serene red-haired woman, framed with allegorical symbols of red bird, sundial."},"main_reference_number":"1925.722","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1871,"date_end":1872,"date_display":"1871\u201372","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Dante Gabriel Rossetti (English, 1828\u20131882)","place_of_origin":"England","description":"<p>Both a poet and a painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a circle of Victorian artists united in their appreciation of medieval aesthetics and the \u201cprimitive\u201d style of pre-Renaissance art. Rossetti found inspiration for<em>Beata Beatrix<\/em> in <em>La vita nuova (The New Life)<\/em>, written by his namesake, the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, in 1295. Rossetti\u2019s scene draws a parallel between Dante\u2019s love for the late Beatrice and his own aff ection for his recently deceased wife and muse, Elizabeth Siddal. While the picture is a tribute to Siddal, Rossetti was adamant that it does not represent her death; rather, the work portrays her as if in a trance or other spiritual state.<\/p>\n<p>The work\u2019s symbolism similarly combines details from Rossetti\u2019s personal life with those from <em>La vita nuova<\/em>. \u201cThe Dove\u201d was the artist\u2019s nickname for Siddal, and a haloed dove delivers her a white poppy, a symbol of the laudanum\u2014a derivative of opium\u2014that caused her death by overdose. Above her head rises the Ponte Vecchio, the Florentine bridge that served as the setting for Dante\u2019s poem. To the upper left  is the personi\ufb01 cation of Love and to the right the \ufb01 gure of Dante, who doubles as a representation of Rossetti himself. The sundial shadows the number nine, the age at which they met and also the hour and day of her death. Rossetti designed the frame, which he inscribed at the top right: \u201cHow doth the city sit solitary,\u201d a quote from the opening of the biblical book of Lamentations, which Dante uses to express how the city of Florence itself seemed to mourn Beatrice.<\/p>\n<p>Given the work\u2019s deeply personal nature, Rossetti initially refused his patron William Graham\u2019s request to create a replica, although he eventually yielded. The Art Institute\u2019s painting is this second version, which includes a predella\u2014the painted scene at the bottom of the frame\u2014depicting Beatrice and Dante\u2019s reunion in paradise. With this addition, Rossetti provided the medieval love story with a happy conclusion, perhaps suggesting that he, too, had begun to come to terms with his grief.<\/p>\n","short_description":"Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a circle of Victorian artists united in their regard for medieval aesthetics. Inspired by his namesake, Dante, Rossetti drew parallels in this work between the Italian poet's love for Beatrice and his own affection for his deceased wife and muse, Elizabeth Siddal, a talented artist and writer who died at age 32.","dimensions":"87.5 \u00d7 69.3 cm (34 7\/16 \u00d7 27 1\/4 in.); Predella: 26.5 \u00d7 69.2 cm (10 7\/16 \u00d7 27 1\/4 in.); Framed: 156.2 \u00d7 102.9 cm (61 1\/2 \u00d7 40 1\/2 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":69,"height":87,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":null,"width":69,"height":26,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Predella"},{"depth":null,"width":102,"height":156,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Inscribed on frame: JUN: DIE 9 ANNO 1290 (top left); QUOMODO SEDET SOLA CIVITAS! (top right); MART: DIE 31 ANNO 1300 \/ VENI, SPONSA, DE LIBANO. (bottom)","credit_line":"Charles L. Hutchinson Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"\u201cThe Art Sales of 1886,\u201d Art Journal 48 (1886), p. 306.\n\nWilliam Michael Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti as Designer and Writer, (London, 1889), pp. 78-79.\n\nWilliam Michael Rossetti, ed., Dante Gabriel Rossetti: His Family Letters with a Memoir by William Michael Rossetti (London, 1895), vol. 2, pp. 238, 253, 256-57, 263-64, 279.\n\nHenry C. Marillier, Dante Gabriel Rossetti: An Illustrated Memorial of His Art and Life (London, 1899), pp. 128-29, 154, 252, no. 248.\n\nHelen Rossetti Angeli, \u201cThe Life and Work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti\u201d (London, Art Journal, Easter Annual, 1902), pp. 14, 16 (ill.).\n\nLouisiana Purchase Exposition, Illustrations of Selected Works in the Various National Sections of the Department of Art (St. Louis, 1904), p. 13, opp. p. 13 (ill.), p. 15.\n\nBuffalo Fine Arts Academy, \u201cThe Inaugural Loan Exhibition: Albright Art Gallery,\u201d Academy Notes 1, 1 (June 1905), pp. 16, 34 (ill.).\n\nWilliam A. Knight, Six Lectures on Some Nineteenth Century Artists, English and French (Chicago, 1909), p. 131, pl. 22.\n\nErnestine Mills, The Life and Letters of Frederic Shields (London, 1912), p. 151.\n\nBulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, 13, 7, (October 1919), p. 98 (ill.).\n\nR.M.F., \u201cThe Charles L. Hutchinson Bequest,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, 19, 9, (December 1925), pp. 102, 104 (ill.).\n\nFrank Jewett Mather, Modern Paintings (New York, 1927), pp. 74 (ill.), 75.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago, 1932), pp. 90 (ill.), 169.\n\nArnold Palmer, \u201cEnglish Survey in Pittsburgh: An Introduction to British Painting at the Carnegie,\u201d Art News 36, part 2, (May 28, 1938), p. 14 (ill.).\n\nOswald Doughty, A Victorian Romantic: Dante Gabriel Rossetti (London, 1960), pp. 474, 523, 619.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), p. 404.\n\nFrederick A. Sweet, \u201cGreat Chicago Collectors,\u201d Apollo 84 (September 1966), p. 196.\n\nOswald Doughty and John Robert Wahl, eds., The Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Oxford, 1965-1967), vol. 3: 1871-1876, pp. 951, 958, 964, 967, 969, 996, 998, 1003, 1053-55, 1057, 1059-60, 1063, 1067, 1087, 1119, 1130-31.\n\nDebra Mancoff, \u201cA Vision of Beatrice: The Beata Beatrix as a symbol for the middle period of the artistic development of Dante Gabriel Rossetti\u201d (Independent study paper, Northwestern University, 1979), pp. 2-3, 8, 12-14, 16-22, 25, fig. 2, fig. 13.\n\nHenry Treffry Dunn, Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his Circle, or, Cheyne Walk Life, ed. Rosalie Mander (Westerham, 1984), p. 31-32.\n\nDebra Mancoff, \u201cA Vision of Beatrice: D.G. Rossetti and the Beata Beatrix,\u201d The Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies 6 (November 1985), pp. 76, 80-82, 85 (ill.).\n\nLaurel Bradley, \u201cElizabeth Siddal: Drawn into the Pre-Raphaelite Circle,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 18, 2 (Chicago, 1992), pp. 137, 138, fig. 2.\n\nBeverly Taylor, \u201cBeatrix\/Creatrix: Elizabeth Siddal as Muse and Creator,\u201d The Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies n.s. 4 (Spring 1995), pp. 30, 39, 42, 43, fig. 1.\n\nEva Mendgen et al., In Perfect Harmony: Bild und Rahmen 1850 \u2013 1920, exh. cat. (Van Gogh Museum\/Kunstforum Wien Waanders Uitgevers, 1995), pp. 60, 62 (ill.), no. 44, 64.\n\nJan Marsh, Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Painter and Poet (London, 1999), pp. 448-49.\n\nOliver Garnett, \"The Letters and Collection of William Gahm: Pre-Raphaelite Patron and Pre-Raphael Collector,\" Walpole Society 62 (2000): 158-61, 198-203, 205-12, 215-18, 220, 229-30, 233-37,282-83 a4, 340,  fig. 96.\n\nEli Wilner, ed., The Gilded Edge: The Art of the Frame (San Francisco, 2000), pp. 61, 62, fig. 33.\n\nJerome McGann, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Game that Must Be Lost (New Haven, 2000), pp. 18, 97-100.\n\nDavid Wayne Thomas, \u201cReplicas and Originality: Picturing Agency in Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Victorian Manchester,\u201d Victorian Studies 43, 1 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 70-71; 73-74; 75, fig. 3; 81-82.\n\nLaurence Brogniez, Pr\u00e9rapha\u00e9lisme et Symbolisme: Peinture litt\u00e9raire et image po\u00e9tique (Paris, 2003), pp. 84; 95; 106, fig. 9; 293.\n\nLucinda Hawksley, Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel (London, 2004), p. 208.\n\nJ.B. Bullen, Rossetti: Painter & Poet (London, 2011), pp. 177, 247-248.\n\nMelissa E. Buron, \u201cTruth and Beauty Reframed: The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Sources of Inspiration,\u201d in Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, Truth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters, exh. cat., (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco\/Legion of Honor; DelMonico Books\/Prestel, 2018) pp. 20\n\nCassandra Sciortino, \u201c\u2019The Central Man of All the World\u2019: Dante and the Pre-Raphaelites in the Nineteenth Century,\u201d in Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, Truth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters, exh. cat., (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco\/Legion of Honor; DelMonico Books\/Prestel, 2018) pp. 83\n\nMargaretta S. Frederick, \u201cPatrons and Painters: Creative Synergy in the Aesthetic Movement,\u201d in Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, Truth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters, exh. cat., (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco\/Legion of Honor; DelMonico Books\/Prestel, 2018) pp. 176-7\n\nFine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, Truth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters, exh. cat., (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco\/Legion of Honor; DelMonico Books\/Prestel, 2018) pp. 99, plate 37; 275 \n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 68 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Pictures, Designs, and Studies by the Late Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1883, cat. 83.\n\nPhiladelphia Academy of the Fine Arts, Examples of the English Pre-Raphaelite School of Painters, including Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Madox-Brown and others, together with a Collection of the Works of William Blake, December 8, 1892, cat. 115.\n\nSt. Louis, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, see Official Catalogue of Exhibits: Universal Exposition, St. Louis, Department B: Art, Group 13, Loan Collection, 1904, cat. 115.\n\nBuffalo, New York, Albright Art Gallery, Inaugural Loan Exhibition, May 31 \u2013 July 1, 1905, cat. 224.\n\nToledo Museum of Art, Inaugural Exhibition, January 17 \u2013 February 12, 1912, cat. 205 (ill.).\n\nHartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Athenaeum, An Exhibition of Literature and Poetry in Painting since 1850, January 24 \u2013 February 14, 1933, cat. 61 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1 \u2013 November 1, 1933, cat. 274.\n\nPittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Department of Fine Arts, A Survey of British Painting, May 10 \u2013 June 12, 1938, cat. 66 (ill.).\n\nArt Gallery of Toronto, An Exhibition of Great Paintings in Aid of the Canadian Red Cross, November 15 \u2013 December 15, 1940, cat. 81.\n\nIndianapolis, Herron Museum of Art, The Pre-Raphaelites: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their Associates, February 16 \u2013 March 22, 1964, cat. 70 (ill.), traveled to New York, Gallery of Modern Art, including the Huntington Hartford Collection, April 27 \u2013 May 31, 1964.\n\nEugene, Oregon, University of Oregon, Museum of Art, Dante in Art, February 2 \u2013 March 14, 1965, Paintings cat. 7 (ill.).\n\nDenver Art Museum, Great Stories in Art, February 13 \u2013 March 27, 1966, p. 1 (ill.).\n\nPeoria, Illinois, Lakeview Center for the Arts and Sciences, The Victorian Rebellion: A Loan Exhibition of Works by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Their Contemporaries, September 12 \u2013 October 26, 1971, cat. 80 (ill.).\n\nArts Club of Chicago, A Second Talent: Paintings and Drawings by Writers, November 15 \u2013 December 31, 1971, cat. 151.\n\nHouston, Rice Museum, Art Nouveau in Belgium and France, March 26 \u2013 June 27, 1976, cat. 14 (ill.), traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago, August 28 \u2013 October 31, 1976.\n\nProvidence, Rhode Island, Bell Gallery, List Art Center, Brown University, Ladies of Shalott: A Victorian Masterpiece and Its Contexts, An Exhibition by the Department of Art, Brown University, February 23 \u2013 March 23, 1985, cat. 39 (ill.).\n\nChapel Hill, North Carolina, Ackland Art Museum, A One-Picture Exhibition featuring Dante Gabriel Rossetti\u2019s Beata Beatrix, on Loan from the Art Institute of Chicago, January 23 \u2013 April 25, 1993, no cat.\n\nMunich, Stadtlische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Der Kampf der Geschlechter: Der neue Mythos in der Kunst 1850-1930, March 8 \u2013 May 7, 1995, cat. 4 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Anxiety, and Myth, February 14 \u2013 April 26, 2009, cat. 137 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago, November 7, 2009 \u2013 January 31, 2010, cat. 116 (ill.).\n\nSan Francisco, Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Truth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters, June 30 - September 30, 2018, pp. 99, plate 37; 275","provenance_text":"Commissioned by William Graham, London (1817-1885), 1871 [letter from Graham to the artist, Jan. 1, 1871; published in Garnett 2000]; sold, his estate sale, Christie's, London, Apr. 3, 1886, lot 116 as Beata Beatrice to MacKenzie [probably Kenneth Muir MacKenzie; according to annotated sale catalogue and Agnews Picture Stockbook, 1885\u20131891, no. 3861, National Gallery Research Centre, London; copies in curatorial object file]; sold to Thomas Agnews and Sons, London, Sep. 1886 [Agnews Picture Stockbook, 1885\u20131891, no. 4196, National Gallery Research Centre, London; copy in curatorial object file and Agnews invoice, Sep. 24, 1886]; sold to Charles L. Hutchinson (1854-1924), Chicago, Sep. 1886; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1925.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":1926,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":50.9517,"color":{"h":39,"l":54,"s":44,"percentage":0.06459911060867359,"population":672},"latitude":41.879806108549,"longitude":-87.6233887496682,"latlon":"41.879806108549,-87.623388749668","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 223","gallery_id":2147483606,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":36457,"artist_title":"Dante Gabriel Rossetti","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[36457],"artist_titles":["Dante Gabriel Rossetti"],"category_ids":["PC-10"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe"],"term_titles":["painting","love","Pre-Raphaelite","oil painting","oil paint (paint)","woman","wilderness","white (color)","trees","spiritual","red (color)","Poppies","numbers","nature","musical instruments","heaven","green (color)","foliage","flowers","doves","death","bushes","bridge","bird","nineteenth century","19th century","painting techniques","painting","painting","paint","artist's frame","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","oil on canvas","british","european painting","painting (image making)","canvas","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs"],"style_id":"TM-7600","style_title":"Pre-Raphaelite","alt_style_ids":["TM-15636","TM-13203"],"style_ids":["TM-7600","TM-15636","TM-13203"],"style_titles":["Pre-Raphaelite","nineteenth century","19th century"],"classification_id":"TM-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-10387","TM-78","TM-66","TM-15669","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-10387","TM-78","TM-66","TM-15669","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["painting","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","oil on canvas","british","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-12167","alt_subject_ids":["TM-15749","TM-12599","TM-11841","TM-11205","TM-14390","TM-11851","TM-15360","TM-12904","TM-12261","TM-8832","TM-14722","TM-11849","TM-11206","TM-10482","TM-12843","TM-12097","TM-15367","TM-15131","TM-13572","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176"],"subject_ids":["TM-12167","TM-15749","TM-12599","TM-11841","TM-11205","TM-14390","TM-11851","TM-15360","TM-12904","TM-12261","TM-8832","TM-14722","TM-11849","TM-11206","TM-10482","TM-12843","TM-12097","TM-15367","TM-15131","TM-13572","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176"],"subject_titles":["love","woman","wilderness","white (color)","trees","spiritual","red (color)","Poppies","numbers","nature","musical instruments","heaven","green (color)","foliage","flowers","doves","death","bushes","bridge","bird","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-15368","TM-3124"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-15368","TM-3124"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","painting","paint","artist's frame","canvas"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3971","TM-14210","TM-3891"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-3971","TM-14210","TM-3891"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting techniques","painting","painting (image making)"],"theme_titles":[],"image_id":"194674a2-f451-65f7-ba46-6aac4d894f0b","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["e746e585-4e44-39d6-1608-e9cdf21f2f56"],"sound_ids":["e746e585-4e44-39d6-1608-e9cdf21f2f56"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Beata Beatrix","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1925.722"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Beata Beatrix"],"weight":15317,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-06-04T09:49:39-05:00","updated_at":"2026-08-27T15:11:39-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-06T05:52:15-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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