Paolo and Francesca da Rimini (by Rossetti) Canvas Print

This design features watercolor art by the 19th-century British painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882), who was the son of an Italian scholar. It depicts a subject taken from Canto V of the Italian poet Dante Aligheri's Inferno: Francesca da Rimini was the sister-in-law of Paolo Malatesta, but they fell in love and had an adulterous affair together. Their story was a popular subject with Victorian artists and sculptors, especially with followers of the Pre-Raphaelite ideology. The painting shows the adulterous kiss that condemns the lovers to eternal damnation in Hell. There is a book on the couple's lap: Rossetti depicts them reading about the Arthurian knight Sir Lancelot who also suffered for his forbidden love. The scene illustrates the following lines from Dante's Inferno: "One day we read, to pass the time away, of Lancelot, of how he fell in love; alone we were, and no suspicion near us... then he, who never from me shall separate, at once my lips all trembling kissed." However, today the image can simply be seen as a more innocent depiction of romantic love, since it shows an attractive man kissing a beautiful woman, as they both enjoy the blissful beauty of the moment they are sharing.