This self-described murder victim makes a very brief appearance in a great work of Italian literature. Later, she became the subject of a 19th-century painting by an artist of Italian heritage and an Italian opera, too. In fact, the full name by which we know her was attached to her by scholars. What is she called, where does she appear in the work of literature, who produced the painting, and who wrote the opera?

braunda

Beatrice Portinari, The Divine Comedy, Puccini, Dante Gabriel Rossetti Jun 13 05, 8:34 PM

braunda

Correction: I had them out of order. Rossetti was the painter, and puccii wrote the opera. Jun 13 05, 8:35 PM

lanfranco

Well, Braunda, that's not a bad guess at all, and I did do a Beatrice Cenci question a couple of months ago. So I'll give you some credit, especially for Rossetti, which is part of the answer. But no: Beatrice is not the lady I had in mind. She died in 1599, and the work of Italian literature was written long before that. Jun 13 05, 8:53 PM

TabbyTom

Francesca da Rimini seems to fit the bill. She was killed by her husband Giovanni Malatesta in 1285: she had an affair with his brother and he caught them together. She appears with Paolo in Canto 5 of Dante's "Inferno." She was painted (again with Paolo) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and is the subject of an opera by Riccardo Zandonai. I didn't know the painting, which is apparently in the Tate (sorry, we have to say "Tate Britain" now), but I can just about recite the passage from the Inferno (in an appalling English accent). Jun 14 05, 1:01 AM

lanfranco

Well, I'm going to accept that as a perfectly reasonable answer, except that there isn't much doubt about Francesca's name. She does fit most of the criteria. But, alas, she's not the woman I had in mind. A little too well known. Oh, by the way, Braunda, I misread your answer, so my apologies to you. However, Dante's Beatrice isn't the woman either. Jun 14 05, 7:33 AM

TabbyTom

Well, a little more research has led me to Canto 5 of the "Purgatorio," which ends with a few lines from a certain Pia dei Tolomei. She is said to have been locked up by her husband in a tower in Maremma, and according to some sources was murdered there by his orders in 1295 or thereabouts. Like Francesca da Rimini, she was painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti: the painting is in the Museum of Art of the University of Kansas at Lawrence, KS. And there's an opera about her by Donizetti, premiered at the Teatro Apollo in Venice in 1837. When I came across the line "Siena mi fè, disfecemi Maremma," I recognized it as one that is quoted in Aldous Huxley's "Those Barren leaves," but the man who quotes it there seems to believe that Pia died of malaria in the famously unhealthy swamp of Maremma. Other stories apparently have her thrown out of a window: in the opera, according to the "New Grove Dictionary of Opera," her husband has her poisoned. Jun 14 05, 2:58 PM

lanfranco

Bravo! I realize that this was obscure, but I was looking at Umberto Eco's latest novel, which contains a "portrait" of Pia dei Tolomei, among its many other interesting illustrations. I knew the Rossetti, so I decided to throw out the question and see what happened. Apparently, the opera is not one of Donizetti's best. Jun 14 05, 3:30 PM