Portrait of Beatrice

Dante, D. G. Rossetti, and the Imaginary Lady

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, European, Italian, British
Cover of the book Portrait of Beatrice by Fabio Camilletti, University of Notre Dame Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Fabio Camilletti ISBN: 9780268104009
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press Publication: March 30, 2019
Imprint: University of Notre Dame Press Language: English
Author: Fabio Camilletti
ISBN: 9780268104009
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
Publication: March 30, 2019
Imprint: University of Notre Dame Press
Language: English

The Portrait of Beatrice examines both Dante's and D. G. Rossetti's intellectual experiences in the light of a common concern about visuality. Both render, in different times and contexts, something that resists clear representation, be it the divine beauty of the angel-women or the depiction of the painter's own interiority in a secularized age. By analyzing Dante's Vita Nova alongside Rossetti's Hand and Soul and St. Agnes of Intercession, which inaugurates the Victorian genre of 'imaginary portrait' tales, this book examines how Dante and Rossetti explore the tension between word and image by creating 'imaginary portraits.' The imaginary portrait—Dante's sketched angel appearing in the Vita Nova or the paintings evoked in Rossetti's narratives—is not (only) a non-existent artwork: it is an artwork whose existence lies elsewhere, in the words alluding to its inexpressible quality. At the same time, thinking of Beatrice as an 'imaginary Lady' enables us to move beyond the debate about her actual existence. Rather, it allows us to focus on her reality as a miracle made into flesh, which language seeks incessantly to grasp. Thus, the intergenerational dialogue between Dante and Rossetti—and between thirteenth and nineteenth centuries, literature and painting, Italy and England—takes place between different media, oscillating between representation and denial, mimesis and difference, concealment and performance. From medieval Florence to Victorian London, Beatrice's 'imaginary portrait' touches upon the intertwinement of desire, poetry, and art-making in Western culture.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Portrait of Beatrice examines both Dante's and D. G. Rossetti's intellectual experiences in the light of a common concern about visuality. Both render, in different times and contexts, something that resists clear representation, be it the divine beauty of the angel-women or the depiction of the painter's own interiority in a secularized age. By analyzing Dante's Vita Nova alongside Rossetti's Hand and Soul and St. Agnes of Intercession, which inaugurates the Victorian genre of 'imaginary portrait' tales, this book examines how Dante and Rossetti explore the tension between word and image by creating 'imaginary portraits.' The imaginary portrait—Dante's sketched angel appearing in the Vita Nova or the paintings evoked in Rossetti's narratives—is not (only) a non-existent artwork: it is an artwork whose existence lies elsewhere, in the words alluding to its inexpressible quality. At the same time, thinking of Beatrice as an 'imaginary Lady' enables us to move beyond the debate about her actual existence. Rather, it allows us to focus on her reality as a miracle made into flesh, which language seeks incessantly to grasp. Thus, the intergenerational dialogue between Dante and Rossetti—and between thirteenth and nineteenth centuries, literature and painting, Italy and England—takes place between different media, oscillating between representation and denial, mimesis and difference, concealment and performance. From medieval Florence to Victorian London, Beatrice's 'imaginary portrait' touches upon the intertwinement of desire, poetry, and art-making in Western culture.

More books from University of Notre Dame Press

Cover of the book Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval and Early Modern Spain by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Down the Nights and Down the Days by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Desire, Faith, and the Darkness of God by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Complicity and Moral Accountability by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Religious Movements in the Middle Ages by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Being in the World by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Participatory Democracy in Brazil by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Summa Contra Gentiles by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book With All Your Mind by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Modern Physics and Ancient Faith by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Fifteen Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford Between A.D. 1826 and 1843 by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Does God Suffer? by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Levinas by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Rethinking the Medieval Legacy for Contemporary Theology by Fabio Camilletti
Cover of the book Icons and the Liturgy, East and West by Fabio Camilletti
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy