Beatrice meeting Dante at a marriage feast, denies him her salutation

A founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a poet as well as a painter. From his earliest childhood he was familiar with the 13th-century poet Dante Alighieri and came to identify obsessively with his famous namesake. At the age of 20 he completed his translation of the 'Vita nuova' (The new life), an account of Dante’s unrequited love for the Florentine woman Beatrice Portinari. He was also inspired to paint a small number of watercolours on the subject, the first of which shows Dante in a red tunic almost fainting against a wall after catching sight of Beatrice in a marriage procession. Beatrice is directly behind the little flower girl, flanked by two dark-haired maidens. This watercolour was admired by John Ruskin, who owned a copy of it.