Medusa was once a beautiful maiden who was transformed by the goddess Athena into a Gorgon. Of all three Gorgons, Medusa alone was mortal. Her…
“The girl is in a sort of passionate reverie, and is drawing her hand listlessly along the strings of a violin which hangs against the…
Like his Pre-Raphaelite brethren, Dante Gabriel Rossetti used live models in his works. Throughout the course of his career, the same faces grace his canvasses,…
La Ghirlandata was painted at Kelmscott Manor after a period of great difficulty for Rossetti — he had attempted suicide earlier that year. Despite his…
“The girl is in a sort of passionate reverie, and is drawing her hand listlessly along the strings of a violin which hangs against the…
And her enchanted hair was the first gold./And still she sits, young while the earth is old –from Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s sonnet Lady Lilith Lilith…
Women are central figures in Pre-Raphaelite art, and this has given rise to the concept of a “Pre-Raphaelite Woman.” I frequently see the term in te…
“To start with I was nothing, but then the merest sweep of his pencil gave a hint of what I could become.” –A Curl of…
The Poem: Drawing inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The Blessed Damozel explores the theme of lovers separated by death. Like…
In 1859, Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted Bocca Baciata and it was a radical change in style. Afterwards his work gravitated towards images of a single…
Rossetti frequently used Alexa Wilding as a model. Tall and voluptuous, she appears in some of his most beautiful works. She is The Blessed Damozel,…
I’ve mentioned my love of mirror paintings before: Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus, Viola, Photograph of Fanny Cornforth, Seeking out mirrors, and Preparing for…
Often I find that I prefer an artist’s studies to the completed work. Perhaps it is that they are raw beginnings, a hint of what…
Of Adam’s first wife, Lilith, it is told (The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,) That, ere the snake’s, her sweet tongue could…
Venus Verticordia, painting and poem both by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Alexa Wilding posed for the painting, although I’ve read that Rossetti also used Fanny Cornforth.…
Genius in Beauty by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Painting shown is Regina Cordium, painted by Rossetti in 1866 using Alexa Wilding as a model.) Beauty like…
For this week’s poem, I have chosen Rossetti’s Sibylla Palmifera. I usually include external links at the end of posts, but I don’t want this…
Dante Gabriel Rossetti originally painted Lilith using Fanny Cornforth as a model when he began painting it in 1864. For some reason, in 1868, he…
The Bower Meadow, painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1872. Featured in the foreground are Maria Spartali Stillman (left) and Alexa Wilding(right). I’m not sure…
La Bella Mano, painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti – 1875, oil, Delaware Art Museum. Models: Alexa Wilding as the woman, May Morris (daughter of William…
