La Vita Nuova: Examining the theme of love in two of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s most famous works, the poem, The Blessed Damozel and the painting, Beata Beatrix, Andre R. Taylor-Morris

This essay will trace, briefly, Rossetti’s engagement with, and treatment of love. The Blessed Damozel was composed well before the death of Elizabeth “Lizzie” Siddall, Rossetti’s wife, however, it shows that Dante Gabriel Rossetti “Rossetti” was obsessed with the idea of forever love well before Beata Beatrix. The poem, The Blessed Damozel, is about love and death, but most importantly, about love. The painting, Beata Beatrix was chosen because of the story it portrays, that of Dante Alighieri and Beatrice Portinari, and its parallels with the life and story of Rossetti and Lizzie.