Pia de' Tolomei (Rossetti painting)
 |
|
| Artist | Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
|---|---|
| Year | c. 1868 |
| Type | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 105.4 cm × 120.6 cm (41.5 in × 47.5 in) |
| Location | Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas |
Pia de' Tolomei is an oil painting on canvas by English artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, painted around 1868 and currently housed at the Spencer Museum of Art, on the campus of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.
History
This work was painted at the start of Rossetti's affair with Jane Morris, who modelled for the picture. As he was to do with Beata Beatrix (1870), Rossetti chose a tale by Dante Aligheri (from Purgatorio) to illustrate his love for his model. The story tells of a woman whose husband imprisoned and later poisoned her:[1] Rossetti wanted the world to believe the fantasy with which he was deluding himself - that William Morris kept Jane against her will. He continued this theme, as shown in Proserpine.[2]
Rossetti not only drew Jane exhaustively, he also choreographed photographic sessions of her and used the photographs as preliminary sketches for drawings. Amongst other representations of her, Rossetti depicts Jane as Proserpine, Queen Guinevere and Desdemona - all of whom were at the mercy of men.[3]
Jane appears disproportionately large in most of Rossetti's pictures. The background is immaterial as long as the viewer focuses on the beauty of her face. In Pia de' Tolomei her neck seems almost dislocated, it is so strangely elongated and the whiteness of her skin shines out, defying the viewer to pay attention to any other aspect of the painting. Strangely, Jane's hair colour is misrepresented here. Her natural colour was dark brown, yet Rossetti paints it with an auburn tinge - closer to Lizzie Siddal's hair colour than Jane's. Also, her hands are twisted and intertwined in a peculiar way.[4]
Gallery
- Other depictions of Jane Morris
-
Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Arthur's Tomb (1860).jpg
Arthur's Tomb (1854)
-
Desdemona's Death Song (c. 1878-1881)
-
Proserpine (1874)
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />, or <references group="..." />See also
- Jane Morris, the artist's model
- List of paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
- Rossetti and His Circle by Max Beerbohm
Further reading
- Doughty, Oswald (1949) A Victorian Romantic: Dante Gabriel Rossetti London: Frederick Muller
- Hilto, Timoth (1970). The Pre-Raphelites. London: Thames and Hudson, New York: Abrams.
- Ash, Russell. (1995) Dante Gabriel Rossetti. London: Pavilion Books.
- Surtees, Virginia. (1971) Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Treuherz, Julian, Prettejohn, Elizabeth, and Becker, Edwin (2003). Dante Gabriel Rossetti. London: Thames & Hudson.
- Todd, Pamela (2001). Pre-Raphaelites at Home, New York: Watson-Giptill Publications.
External links
 |
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. |
 |
Wikisource has original works written by or about: Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
- The Rossetti Archive
- Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource
- Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas
- ↑ Cf. Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, "Purgatorio", Canto V, vv.130-136 "Pia de' Tolomei".
- ↑ J. Treuherz, E. Prettejohn, and E. Becker. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. London: Thames & Hudson (2003).
- ↑ V. Surtees. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Vol.I, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1971).
- ↑ O. Doughty, A Victorian Romantic: Dante Gabriel Rossetti London: Frederick Muller (1949).
