100th anniversary of the death of Jane Morris, nee Burden, who’s elegant and remarkably unique face was forever immortalized by her lover, Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Proserpine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proserpine_(Rossetti_painting)

Rossetti's 'Proserpine' Comes Home

http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/european-discoveries/2013/09/proserpine-rossetti-kelmscott-manor.html

Jane and the Wombat

On September 10, 1869, Dante Gabriel Rossetti sketches the picture above, calling it: Parted Love; or, The Wombat. A day later, he wrote the following letter to his lover, Jane Morris (nee Burden), the wife of his friend and student, William Morris:

What do you think? I have got a Wombat at Chelsea, come the other day, whose portraits (by Dunn) I enclose.

Your affectionate,
D. Gabriel. R

PS:

Oh! how the family affections combat
Within this heart; and each hour flings a bomb at
my burning soul; neither from owl nor from bat
can peace be gained, until I clasp my Wombat!

Rossetti painting of best friend's wife expected to sell for £1.8m at Sotheby's

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/jul/10/rossetti-painting-prosperpine-sothebys

Portrait of Jane Morris

Audio: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Salutation of Beatrice

Audio: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Salutation of Beatric

http://www.christies.com/features/audio-dante-gabriel-rossetti-the-salutation-2422-4.aspx

The Collected Letters of Jane Morris

http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewitem.asp?idproduct=13741

Jane Morris as Beatrice

The obviously related watercolour companion to the newly discovered oil.


http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/s260d.rap.html

Unkown portrait by Dante Gabriel Rossetti emerges

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/artsales/9194053/Unkown-portrait-by-Dante-Gabriel-Rossetti-emerges.html

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Christie's Press Release


http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=5473


sale :  LONDON, 31 MAY 2012

Lord Lloyd-Webber with one of his artworks, 'Snowdrops', by Rossetti.

Study of Jane Morris asleep in an upholstered armchair Rossetti

What I only just read though was Rossetti's barbed joke at Morris

The book the sitter has been reading is William Morris's first volume of poetry, The Defence of Guenevere, published in 1858. There is a touch of intentional humour in the suggestion that she has found it so soporific. By the late 1860s, when the drawing was probably made, Rossetti was deeply in love with Jane Morris, and her husband was often the victim of his barbed humour. A group of caricatures from this period in which Rossetti openly pokes fun at him is in the British Museum (see J. A. Gere, Pre-Raphaelite Drawings in the British Museum, London, 1994, pp. 46-55, nos. 25-28, 31-32, all illustrated).

According to Virginia Surtees (loc. cit.), the present drawing was formerly inscribed by William Michael Rossetti 'By Dante G. Rossetti of Mrs Willam Morris towards 1870' (on a previous label attached to the backboard).

It was sold at Christie's last year
for £37,250
($58,594)

The question is, did Jane pose for this, knowing the 'joke' ?

Jane's hands in La Pia de’ Tolommei by Rossetti

Jane's hands in La Pia de’ Tolommei by Rossetti

La Pia de’ Tolommei is a large oil painting that depicts a character from the final lines of 14th- century Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, Purgatory. La Pia, from the family Tolommei, was unjustly imprisoned by her jealous husband in a castle in Maremma, a marshy region of Tuscany near Sienna, Italy. There she died there under mysterious circumstances

n La Pia de’ Tolommei, Rossetti creates a character and scene from Dante’s Divine Comedy through the use of symbols. Here, La Pia sits upon the ramparts of the castle. The surrounding foliage alludes to her frustrating and miserable situation. The climbing fig tree framing her face symbolizes fruitfulness, and the sprigs of ivy on lower right corner represent clinging memory or fidelity in marriage. She plays with her wedding ring ("fair jewel") that symbolizes how a once joyous event now represents her unfortunate predicament. The sundial in the lower left corner is a reminder of the passing of time, or the coming of death, and the wheel of fortune motif on it refers to life changes. The rosary lying on an open prayer book refers to her name La Pia, which translates as "The Pious." Old love letters from her husband also symbolize the passing of time. The bundle of lances on the ground serves as a threatening barrier both compositionally and symbolically to the landscape below and her potential freedom. The red and pink banner of her husband draped across them reminds us of her captivity and that her once-beloved husband is now her jailer. Black crows flying above are thought to symbolize verse five of Rossetti’s poem "Sunset Wings" from 1871, about love that changes, never to be relived. The cloudy sky and gray barren landscape create a grim setting to this sad tale. La Pia’s contemplative expression is one of melancholy and introspection.

Rossetti often designed the frames to enhance the subject matter. On the frame for La Pia, he engraved the passage from the poem in both Italian and English in which La Pia’s spirit speaks to Dante:

"Remember me who am La Pia- me
FromSiena, sprung and by Maremma dead.
This in his inmost heart well knoweth he
With whose fair jewel I was ringed and wed."

The model for this painting is Jane Morris, wife of William Morris, a fellow artist and good friend of Rossetti. This is especially meaningful because Rossetti was in love with Jane Morris. He uses this passage from Purgatory to express his own unhappy romantic experiences with a woman who is married to, and in a sense, prisoner of a man she does not love.

Brooch - Jane Morris

Jane Morris, known as Janey, was the wife of the artist, designer and socialist William Morris. She was often painted by the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who gave her this brooch. During the 1860s Rossetti visited the curiosity shops around Leicester Square and Hammersmith, collecting exotic jewellery and accessories for his paintings. This brooch is set with pastes (artificial gemstones). Fanny Cornforth wore it as a pendant in the The Blue Bower, painted by Rossetti in 1865.
Some of Jane Morris's jewels were bequeathed to the V&A by her daughter May in 1938. They included items given to her by Rossetti, such as this brooch.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O76729/brooch/

Medieval-style jewel casket belonging to Jane

Medieval-style jewel casket belonging to Jane
1859, wood bound with studded iron bands
Society of Antiquaries of London, Kelmscott Manor 202

The Pre-Raphaelite design of this casket is typical of the work of Philip
Webb. The panels were painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his wife
Lizzie Siddal. At least one of the paintings appears to have been copied
from a fifteenth-century manuscript. The casket belonged to Jane Burden,
William Morris’s wife, and was possibly given on her marriage in 1859.
http://www.sal.org.uk/newsandevents/makinghistoryexhibtion/

Dante's Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice (figure of Beatrice)

1870

coloured crayons

It was used for Rossetti's largest painting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante's_Dream

Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Jane Morris 1857

Study for 'Iseult on the Ship' by William Morris, c. 1857.

Portrait of Jane Burden. Pencil and ink.
Courtesy of William Morris Gallery. London Borough Waltham Forest.
http://www.uqtr.ca/AE/Vol_15/ReadingMatters/Reading_matters_Braesel.htm

Muse pictures at auction

http://blog.ukauctioneers.com/2011/06/rossetti-pre-raphaelite-muse-pictures-at-auction/

Reflections on Jane Morris

https://www.facebook.com/groups/212515242152895/216585708412515/?notif_t=like