1849 -1882 · Beatrix, Proserpina, Lilith and Beloved

Rossetti's famous works transform the female figure into a visual poem: face, hair, flower and jewelry condense desire, loss, power and memory.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti united painting and poetry from the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood in 1848. His first works were narrative and medieval, but from the 1860s he developed large close-up female figures who announced symbolism. Beata Beatrix, linked to his wife Elizabeth Siddal who died in 1862, transposes Dante's Beatrice into a state of passage. The closed eyes, the red poppy and the suspended light make the portrait a meditation on love and death. Proserpina shows Jane Morris holding the grenade that holds her in the Underworld; the dark corridor and the luminous ray oppose confinement and desire for elsewhere. Lady Lilith presents the beauty absorbed by her mirror and her hair, both seduction and disturbing autonomy. The Beloved, inspired by the Song of Songs and modern poetry, places the bride at the center of a screen of faces, flowers and fabrics. Rossetti often works with Alexa Wilding, Fanny Cornforth or Jane Morris, but does not paint simple portraits. He combines several studies, transforms the model and associates a sonnet or literary title with the painting. These works became famous because they create an immediately recognizable type without reducing all women to a single identity. These works have become famous because they create an immediately recognizable type without reducing all women to a single identity. These works have become famous because they create an immediately recognizable type without reducing all women to a single identity. The selection "Famous Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti" notably compares Béatrix and Persephone. His reading prioritize details.

Rossetti makes a face unforgettable by loading it with time: the figure seems present, mythical and already lost in the same second.