Their reunion brings him elation, which is quickly dashed when he realises that his companion Virgil has quietly departed. She has a white veil, a green robe, and a dress the colour of flame. He sees the figure of his beloved Beatrice inside the chariot, amid lavish ornamentation and garlands of flowers. There’s a clap of thunder, and the procession comes to a halt opposite Dante. In the middle of that stream of people is a two-wheeled ceremonial chariot being drawn by a Gryphon, whose huge golden aquiline wings stretch out of sight. John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), Study for Dante and Matilda (formerly called “Dante and Beatrice”) (c 1914-17), oil on canvas mounted on wood, 49.5 x 61.9 cm, Dahesh Museum of Art, New York, NY. John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), Matilda (formerly called “Beatrice”) (c 1915), oil on canvas, 48.5 x 60.9 cm, Private collection. Image by Giovanni Dall’Orto, via Wikimedia Commons. Artist not known, Matelda (19th century), stained glass window, dimensions not known, Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan, Italy. George Dunlop Leslie (1835–1921), Matilda (1859), oil on canvas, 51.4 x 92.7 cm, location not known. She is Matelda, and leads him to a holy procession. She is gathering flowers, and tells Dante that he is in the Garden of Eden.

Soon after Dante, Virgil and Statius enter the terrestrial paradise at the top of the island-mountain of Purgatory, Dante comes across a beautiful woman on the opposite bank of a stream. Dante’s declared love for Beatrice was emphatically ‘courtly’ rather than physical, and therefore could have been considered not to be adulterous.

It’s also worth noting in passing that if modern identification of Beatrice is correct, as Beatrice Portinari, she and Dante were both married to their own spouses at the time of Beatrice’s death. Disentangling these isn’t easy, so for continuity and consistency I cover the conclusion of ‘Purgatory’ in this and the next article, which will appear here tomorrow. However, there has been confusion between the two main figures, Matelda and Beatrice, and Dante wrote about Beatrice extensively in two other works, ‘Paradise’ and ‘Vita Nuova’. The final cantos of Dante’s ‘Purgatory’, from the meeting with Matelda (also known as Matilda) to the end of this book, have been enormously popular among artists.

Beatrice the divine comedy