The Salutation of Beatrice

Here we see two scenes from Dante Alighieri’s "New Life" and "Divine Comedy" in which he meets his love Beatrice. At left Rossetti depicts their chance meeting on the streets of Florence; at right, their reunion in Paradise following her death. Both scenes were painted as doors for a cupboard designed by William Morris for his home. The artist later removed the doors and placed them in a frame he designed and painted. Poet and painter, Rossetti is the most famous member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who aspired to the simplicity and truth in nature that they saw in art made before the time of Raphael. "The Salutation" rejects contemporary conventions with its awkward and planar compositions, the inclusion of text, and the equal weight accorded to every detail.