Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Una Pittura Del Cielo E Della Terra

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Una Pittura Del Cielo E Della Terra Scritti Astrologici di Alessandro Guzzi / Luglio 1997 Copyright © 1997 Alessandro Guzzi DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI: UNA PITTURA DEL CIELO E DELLA TERRA D. G. Rossetti: Beata Beatrix L’immagine che la Pittura deve sempre rendere visibile, ed oggi più che mai, consiste in una condensazione di varie componenti, alcune note ed altre ignote. Riassumendo al massimo le componenti nel loro insieme sono: 1) la natura intrinseca dell’esser uomini, completa di tutte quelle condizioni fisiche, biologiche e psicologiche in senso lato che caratterizzano la condizione umana in ogni tempo (natura); 2) la condizione effettiva degli uomini nel tempo che sono chiamati a vivere, completa delle strutture più o meno distorte che sono di tempo in tempo piuttosto rigide, atte cioè a condizionare, a dar forma al loro 1 Scritti Astrologici di Alessandro Guzzi / Luglio 1997 Copyright © 1997 Alessandro Guzzi vivere, ad esempio la televisione, le automobili, l’informatica ecc nel mondo contemporaneo (storia); 3) l’anelito o la chiamata che di tempo in tempo emana dallo spirito e che spinge gli uomini in modo spesso inconscio verso un’evoluzione che li porterà a procedere evolutivamente al successivo stadio di sviluppo epocale. La sintonia con questo livello dipende dalla capacità dell’individuo a “lasciar andare” ciò che “lo sostiene” come cultura, idee ecc, e ad esser pronto alla trasformazione: il motto di un artista dovrebbe essere “dove c’è vita ed energia lì voglio abitare” (spirito). Potremmo chiamare realismo le forme d’arte che si limitano a rivolgere la loro attenzione alle prime due componenti che danno luogo ad una certa descrizione anche straordinaria della condizione umana, che nel passato fu gloriosa dal momento che lo spirituale non era esiliato dalla vita. Questa descrizione non importa se metaforica o allusiva va dall’incanto della Natura intesa come oggetto di studio o come incanto della visione fino alla denuncia sociale dei tempi moderni. Ma il realismo in questa fine secolo è come una religione che ha dimenticato i suoi dei e comprende non solo una vasta parte di tutta la tarda Pittura Figurativa, ma evidentemente anche il cosiddetto Concettuale, la Pop Art, la Computer Art, la Body Art ecc, e tutte le forme che da esse sono derivate, che non sono in fin dei conti altro che il prodotto di una visione materialistica e “progettuale” e dunque “realista”, ora in senso solo limitativo ed intellettualistico. In questo senso i magazzini stracolmi di oggetti di Beuys, la Campbell Soup di Andy Warhol o i minimalismi “raffinatissimi” di molti artisti concettuali di ieri e di oggi, o ancora l’attuale pornografia che scimmiotta nei video la TV è sempre la stessa storia, è “realismo”. E’ “realismo” perché in fin dei conti, a vari livelli, al fondo di tutte queste espressioni apparentemente trasgressive e spericolate troviamo solo una mentalità materialistica il cui motto è: non c’è niente oltre ciò che sai, e che si sfoga attraverso la glorificazione di un io esibizionista! Se poi viene a mancare l’aria perché non c’è nulla di più austero ed asfissiante di una cultura “laica”, il realismo di oggi, svuotato di senso e di amore per la realtà, ricorre all’ironia che non cambiando nulla concede per lo meno di ridere di sé stessi, ma il criceto non uscirà mai dalla gabbietta ironizzando sul tipo di metallo delle sbarre, o sulla faccia da cretino del suo carceriere!. Se andiamo a ricercare testimonianze moderne di un antico afflato spirituale dell’Arte che portarono poi ad esempio alla rivolta antirealistica di Klee e di Kandinsky, a mio giudizio non possiamo non pensare alla figura di Dante Gabriel Rossetti, pittore e poeta inglese di origine italiana, nato nel 1828. In lui esiste infatti un inconsapevole, direi automatico “sistema di trascendimento” che porta l’immagine della sua pittura sempre oltre rispetto al cosiddetto “dato di realtà”, verso una dimensione più alta e universale, o meglio l’occhio di Rossetti è capace di leggere la “realtà” solo attraverso una percezione spirituale e dunque simbolica in senso profondo. 2 Scritti Astrologici di Alessandro Guzzi / Luglio 1997 Copyright © 1997 Alessandro Guzzi Nonostante il coinvolgimento sensuale al quale inevitabilmente si sottoponeva nel ritrarre le sue bellissime modelle (Alexa Wilding, Jane Morris, Maria Spartali...) Rossetti ebbe la fortuna di aver lasciato indenne l’opera pittorica proprio da quel coinvolgimento e di essere stato solo sulla sua persona e non nella sua opera vittima di un “incantesimo” dei sensi aggravato dall’abuso di alcool e di idrato di cloralio! L’immagine della sua pittura abita in una dimensione più elevata e rimane come incontaminata da ciò che l’Artista attraversa per produrla (vedi: La Ghirlandata, Beata Beatrix, The Bower Meadow ecc). In questo senso la sua pittura è una quintessenza della sua vita. D. G. Rossetti: La Ghirlandata Le sue immagini, sebbene “figurative” e dettagliatissime non hanno alcun diretto riferimento storico, esistenziale, psicologico o autobiografico e dunque realistico; vivono in una dimensione senza tempo e senza storia, ma proprio per questo parlano in modo ancor più realistico di tutta la vita dell’uomo, da quella biologica a quella che si identifica con la devozione e dunque con lo spirito. 3 Scritti Astrologici di Alessandro Guzzi / Luglio 1997 Copyright © 1997 Alessandro Guzzi D. G. Rossetti: A Sea Spell Osserviamo una sua tela: “A Sea Spell”, “un incantesimo del mare” del 1877. Eseguita l’opera Rossetti descrisse il quadro con questi versi** che sono a mio giudizio come una sorta di manifesto della sua visione spirituale : La sua arpa pende all’ombra del melo mentre le dita luminose tra le corde tessono la dolce melodia, e non appena si diffondono le note misteriose l’uccello marino abbandona il mare per quei rami. Ma a quale suono lei china l’orecchio in ascolto? Quali bisbigli ode dall’abisso del mondo sotterraneo, da quale sfera del cielo echi rispondono, nel vento lungo l’estuario? ** La traduzione in italiano è mia. Vedi di Russell Ash: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Pavillion Books, London. 4 Scritti Astrologici di Alessandro Guzzi / Luglio 1997 Copyright © 1997 Alessandro Guzzi Lei si abbandona all’incantesimo, e non appena muove le labbra e in aria s’innalza nel suo canto, quali creature dalle profondità del mare s’affolleranno sulla scia schiumeggiante da quei versi arcani richiamate: finché il fatale marinaio non udrà il suo pianto, ed a quella roccia a petto nudo andrà a morire? Il mistero che avvolge tutto il quadro è ben al di là di ciò che lo stesso Rossetti conosce, e dunque l’opera ritrae soprattutto il mistero stesso mentre l’Artista si lascia trasportare oltre ciò che sa: questo è evidentemente contrario al realismo il cui oggetto è sempre noto e tende a fare una sorta di circonvoluzione intorno all’ossevatore.... La bellissima donna ritratta nella devozione dell’ascolto e nella creazione del suono, nell’angusto spazio manierista che la contiene ha una veste esattamente dello stesso colore e materia dell’uccello di mare che sovrasta il suo capo, e sembra rappresentare l’aria stessa attraverso cui il suono si diffonde. Le parti visibili del suo corpo sono luminosissime, e l’atteggiamento del suo ascolto devoto ci dimostra che lei stessa è assoggettata al vero protagonista del quadro che è il suono del dulcimer. Questo suono proviene tramite lei da sfere subordinate e sovraordinate, che si rispecchiano le une nelle altre, e crea quell’incantesimo in cui lei stessa cade.... Il marinaio che non appare nel quadro e che è evidentemente un naufrago morente (bare-breasted ovvero a torso nudo, scoprendo il cuore che ha ricevuto il richiamo), viene dunque guidato dalla sua stessa anima (la donna) a morire nell’ascolto di questo canto, che è un canto dell’Aria e dunque di liberazione. Perché questa si realizzi le parti emotive e sensuali dell’uomo (le creature del mare) debbono essere risucchiate, dominate dalla bellezza di questo suono superiore cui la sua stessa anima cede nell’invocazione. Il fatto che nell’immaginazione di Rossetti il suono ispiratore corra nel vento lungo l’estuario e che dunque la scena sia pensata in prossimità di esso sottolinea ancor di più il fatto che si tratta di un evento di superamento della separatezza, di un grande ricollegamento, di una riunificazione con il mare... Il quadro è un’opera sulla morte, sulla musica e sulla liberazione: l’anima richiama a sé le varie parti dell’essere e lo convince, “lo incanta” a raggiungere il cielo. 5 Scritti Astrologici di Alessandro Guzzi / Luglio 1997 Copyright © 1997 Alessandro Guzzi Tomba di D. G. Rossetti 6.
Recommended publications
  • PRE-RAPHAELITE STUNNERS at CHRISTIE’S in JUNE Works by Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Poynter and Leighton
    PRESS RELEASE | LONDON FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : 20 A p r i l 2 0 1 5 PRE-RAPHAELITE STUNNERS AT CHRISTIE’S IN JUNE Works by Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Poynter and Leighton London – This summer, Christie’s London presents a stellar collection of Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian drawings and paintings – one of the very best collections in private hands with museum-quality works, some of which have not been seen for decades. Offered as part of the Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art sale on 16 June 2015, this beautiful collection features 45 works and is expected to realise in the region of £2 million. Leading the collection is one of eight works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), Beatrice: A Portrait of Jane Morris (estimate: £700,000-£1 million, illustrated above left). The collection presents the opportunity for both established and new collectors alike to acquire works at a wide range of price points with estimates ranging from £1,000 to £700,000. Harriet Drummond, International Head of British Drawings & Watercolours, Christie’s: “Christie's is delighted to be handling this important and breath-takingly beautiful collection of paintings and drawings brought together by a couple of anglophile art lovers, who combined their passion for the aesthetic of the Victorian Period with the discerning eye of the connoisseur collector. It is the art of this Victorian era celebrating beauty through its depiction of largely female figures, from the monumentality of ‘Desdemona’ to the intimacy of ‘Fanny Cornforth, asleep on a chaise-longue’ that so strongly influenced our idea of beauty today.” With the recent re-emergence of interest in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, led by Tate’s Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde exhibition in 2012, this collection represents many of the ‘Stunners’ who inspired their paintings and made their work truly ‘romantic’, including eight beguiling works by Rossetti.
    [Show full text]
  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Italian Renaissance: Envisioning Aesthetic Beauty and the Past Through Images of Women
    Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2010 DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI AND THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE: ENVISIONING AESTHETIC BEAUTY AND THE PAST THROUGH IMAGES OF WOMEN Carolyn Porter Virginia Commonwealth University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons © The Author Downloaded from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/113 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © Carolyn Elizabeth Porter 2010 All Rights Reserved “DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI AND THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE: ENVISIONING AESTHETIC BEAUTY AND THE PAST THROUGH IMAGES OF WOMEN” A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. by CAROLYN ELIZABETH PORTER Master of Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2007 Bachelor of Arts, Furman University, 2004 Director: ERIC GARBERSON ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF ART HISTORY Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia August 2010 Acknowledgements I owe a huge debt of gratitude to many individuals and institutions that have helped this project along for many years. Without their generous support in the form of financial assistance, sound professional advice, and unyielding personal encouragement, completing my research would not have been possible. I have been fortunate to receive funding to undertake the years of work necessary for this project. Much of my assistance has come from Virginia Commonwealth University. I am thankful for several assistantships and travel funding from the Department of Art History, a travel grant from the School of the Arts, a Doctoral Assistantship from the School of Graduate Studies, and a Dissertation Writing Assistantship from the university.
    [Show full text]
  • Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) Had Only Seven Members but Influenced Many Other Artists
    1 • Of course, their patrons, largely the middle-class themselves form different groups and each member of the PRB appealed to different types of buyers but together they created a stronger brand. In fact, they differed from a boy band as they created works that were bought independently. As well as their overall PRB brand each created an individual brand (sub-cognitive branding) that convinced the buyer they were making a wise investment. • Millais could be trusted as he was a born artist, an honest Englishman and made an ARA in 1853 and later RA (and President just before he died). • Hunt could be trusted as an investment as he was serious, had religious convictions and worked hard at everything he did. • Rossetti was a typical unreliable Romantic image of the artist so buying one of his paintings was a wise investment as you were buying the work of a ‘real artist’. 2 • The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) had only seven members but influenced many other artists. • Those most closely associated with the PRB were Ford Madox Brown (who was seven years older), Elizabeth Siddal (who died in 1862) and Walter Deverell (who died in 1854). • Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris were about five years younger. They met at Oxford and were influenced by Rossetti. I will discuss them more fully when I cover the Arts & Crafts Movement. • There were many other artists influenced by the PRB including, • John Brett, who was influenced by John Ruskin, • Arthur Hughes, a successful artist best known for April Love, • Henry Wallis, an artist who is best known for The Death of Chatterton (1856) and The Stonebreaker (1858), • William Dyce, who influenced the Pre-Raphaelites and whose Pegwell Bay is untypical but the most Pre-Raphaelite in style of his works.
    [Show full text]
  • The Blessed Damozel’ in Astronomical Focus
    ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE 'Looking Downward Thence’: D. G. Rossetti’s ‘The Blessed Damozel’ in Astronomical Focus AUTHORS Hall, JD JOURNAL Victorian Poetry DEPOSITED IN ORE 27 September 2019 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/38932 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication Looking Downward 1 “Looking Downward Thence”: D. G. Rossetti’s “The Blessed Damozel” in Astronomical Focus Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. —Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994) <Abstract> This essay explores astronomical science in D. G. Rossetti’s poem “The Blessed Damozel” and his painting of the same title. By attending to topical references to astronomy, we can see Rossetti engaging with contemporary debates about vision, indeterminacy, and the place of Earth in the cosmos. Not merely an allegorical scaffolding for the poem’s meditation on enduring love, distance, and eternity, space as conceived by Rossetti in these works becomes part of a complex thought experiment about the individual’s experience of separation and isolation in a universe the scale of which Victorians were racing to assess and comprehend with their burgeoning technologies and theories.
    [Show full text]
  • The Looking-Glass World: Mirrors in Pre-Raphaelite Painting 1850-1915
    THE LOOKING-GLASS WORLD Mirrors in Pre-Raphaelite Painting, 1850-1915 TWO VOLUMES VOLUME I Claire Elizabeth Yearwood Ph.D. University of York History of Art October 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines the role of mirrors in Pre-Raphaelite painting as a significant motif that ultimately contributes to the on-going discussion surrounding the problematic PRB label. With varying stylistic objectives that often appear contradictory, as well as the disbandment of the original Brotherhood a few short years after it formed, defining ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ as a style remains an intriguing puzzle. In spite of recurring frequently in the works of the Pre-Raphaelites, particularly in those by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt, the mirror has not been thoroughly investigated before. Instead, the use of the mirror is typically mentioned briefly within the larger structure of analysis and most often referred to as a quotation of Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait (1434) or as a symbol of vanity without giving further thought to the connotations of the mirror as a distinguishing mark of the movement. I argue for an analysis of the mirror both within the context of iconographic exchange between the original leaders and their later associates and followers, and also that of nineteenth- century glass production. The Pre-Raphaelite use of the mirror establishes a complex iconography that effectively remytholgises an industrial object, conflates contradictory elements of past and present, spiritual and physical, and contributes to a specific artistic dialogue between the disparate strands of the movement that anchors the problematic PRB label within a context of iconographic exchange.
    [Show full text]
  • A Young Prince and Nelson's Mistress
    For Immediate Release 16 April 2004 Contact: Rhiannon Bevan-John 020 7389 2964 [email protected] A YOUNG PRINCE AND NELSON’S MISTRESS Remarkable British Works to be Offered at Christie’s in June English School, circa 1547-9, King Edward VI George Romney, Portrait of Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante (estimate: £400,000-600,000) (estimate: £300,000-500,000) Important British and Irish Art Evening Sale 9 June 2004 London – A remarkable portrait of King Edward VI which has been in the same family for over 400 years is one of the highlights of Christie's Important British and Irish Art Evening Sale on 9 June 2004. One of George Romney’s most important portraits of Lady Hamilton, the artist’s great muse and celebrated mistress of Horatio, Lord Nelson is a further highlight. Intriguing and romantic Pre- Raphaelite works from the John H. Schaeffer Collection will also be offered together with portraits by Gainsborough and Zoffany from the Estate of Mary, Viscountess Eccles. Portrait of Emma Hart, Lady Hamilton as a Dancing Bacchante by George Romney (1734-1802) (estimate: £300,000-500,000) is considered to be one of his most important portraits of Nelson’s mistress. A celebrated beauty, Emma Hamilton captivated Romney who first met her in 1782 and over the next nine years he immortalised her in many different guises, creating some of his most famous paintings. Offered from a private Swedish collection where it has been for the last twenty-five years, the picture Page 1 of 4 dates from 1791 when Emma briefly returned to London from Naples, spurring Romney into beginning a new series of portraits of her.
    [Show full text]
  • The Preraphaelites
    The PreRaphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti “Athur’s Tomb: The Last Meeting of Lancelot & Guinevere” (1854) PART 1 First Generation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (P. R. B.) • Dante Gabriel Rossetti (painter & poet) • William Holman Hunt (painter) • John Everett Millais (painter) • others: William Michael Rossetti (scribe & historian), Thomas Woolner (sculptor), James Collinson (painter), F. G. Stephens (artist & critic) OBSTACLE #1 Raphael Sanzio “The Small Cowper” (1505) OBSTACLE #1 Raphael Sanzio Raphael Sanzio’s “The Three Graces” (1504) OBSTACLE #1 Raphael Sanzio Raphael Sanzio’s “Saint George Fights the Dragon” (1505) OBSTACLE #2 The Royal Academy of Arts Sir Joshua Reynold’s “King George III” (1779) OBSTACLE #2 The Royal Academy of Arts William Beechey’s “The Oddie Children” (1789) INSPIRATION #1: pre-Renaissance paintings (engraver: Carlo Lasinio) after frescoes of Campo Santo at Pisa celebrated (& vague) characteristics: strength, freshness, originality independence Carlo Lasinio Carlo Lasinio’s engraving etching after fresco by Giotto of a Florentine Fresco (1789) INSPIRATION #2: the Nazarenes (the “German Pre-Raphaelites”) celebrated characteristics: luminous colors, sensuality painters: Peter von Cornelius (1783-1867); Johann Friedrich Overbeck Peter Von Cornelius (1789-1869) detail from “The Three Marys at the Grave” (1852-65) INSPIRATION #3: literary antecedents • vol. 2 of Ruskin’s Modern Painters (1846) • the poetry & opinions of John Keats • medieval novels of Sir Walter Scott • poetry of Blake & Coleridge • old ballads • early poetry of Tennyson (e.g. “The William Holman Hunt Lady of Shalott”) “The Eve of St. Agnes” (1848) Friends of the P. R. B. Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown detail from “Work” (1852-65) Friends of the P.
    [Show full text]
  • Supplement – February 2021
    Supplement – February 2021 Why a supplement? Not a month went by when, within a day or so of submitting my pieces to the David Parr House, I would stumble across additional information or a picture which would have been perfect. And, what to do with the interesting information that didn’t make my 2020 ‘Afterword’s? Moreover, new discoveries have come to light in the interim. ‘The Adventure of Sir Scrope’ In ‘The Adventure of Sir Scrope’, David Parr’s fictional alias, Mr Willis, is invited by Sherlock Holmes to accompany him to London to solve the murder of a Cambridge college board member. Sir Scrope’s body had been found on London’s Embankment. Between 1914 – 1915, artist According to Peter Haining's Illustration: public domain – Frank Wiles provided ‘Sherlock Sherlock Holmes Scrapbook, artist unknown Holmes’ illustrations for The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had Strand Magazine. noted on the back of a print The Victoria Embankment (near of Frank Wiles's profile Westminster Bridge) was lit by The first Sherlock Holmes stories portrait of Holmes (above) gas. In 1878, it was illuminated appeared in print from 1887 – that it looked more like the with Jablochkoff Candle arc light 1893. There followed a hiatus way he envisioned Holmes in alternating with the original gas which lasted eight years. Sir his mind's eye than any standards to show the Arthur Conan Doyle resumed other portrait. difference. In June 1884, gas writing his Sherlock Holmes lighting was re-established as stories in 1903 until 1927. electricity was not competitive. © 2021 Nicola Gifford 1 Having established that David Parr and Sherlock Holmes were both born in 1854, I was inspired to write one of the Sherlock Holmes’s adventures which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle only alluded to in one of his stories: the case of ‘Vamberry the wine merchant’.
    [Show full text]
  • Rossetti and Burne-Jones
    CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE THE FEl1l'1E FA TALE IMAGE IN LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND: ROSSETTI AND BURNE-JONES A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art by Trudy Israel January, 1979 The Thesis of Trudy Israel is approved: California State University, Northridge ~ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to sincerely thank the members of my committee. Dr. Camp for his patience and understand­ ing, and Louise Lewis for her continuous encouragement and never-failing energy. I would especially like to express my gratitude to Mary Kenon Breazeale, the chair­ person of my committee, whose extensive knowledge and stimulating presentation of 19th century art originally inspired me. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF PLATES AND SOURCES . v ABSTRACT xi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION . ... 1 2. DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI AND THE FE~lli FATALE . 6 Early \\fork And The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood . 6 Elizabeth Siddal: Hodel, Mistress And \\fife . 10 Elizabeth's Death And The Rise Of The Femme Fatale . 22 Fanny Cornforth 30 Fanny As A Femme Fatale 34 Jane Morris: Late Years . 3. ED\\TARD BURNE-JONES AND THE FEJ:.1NE FATALE 61 Early Years And Education 61 Apprenticeship And Introduction To The Femme Fatale . 67 Stylistic Development: The Femme Fatale . 79 Success And Influence 95 4. Sill1HARY AND CONCLUSION 105 BIBLIOGRAPHY . iv \ PLATES Al.\lD SOURCES Dante Gabriel Rossetti Plate Page 1. Elizabeth Siddal, 1854. Pencil. The Tate Gallery, London. Source: Marina Henderson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, London, Academy Editions, 1973, Page 15. .. 13 2. Boatmen and Siren, 1853.
    [Show full text]
  • Shires Final for Print.Pdf (3.955Mb)
    VICTORIAN CRITICAL INTERVENTIONS Donald E. Hall, Series Editor Shires_Final for Print.indb 1 6/22/2009 3:43:07 PM Shires_Final for Print.indb 2 6/22/2009 3:43:07 PM PERSPECTIVES Modes of Viewing and Knowing in Nineteenth-Century England Linda M. Shires THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PREss Columbus Shires_Final for Print.indb 3 6/22/2009 3:43:08 PM Copyright © 2009 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shires, Linda M., 1950– Perspectives : modes of viewing and knowing in nineteenth-century England / Linda M. Shires. p. cm. — (Victorian critical interventions) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8142-1097-0 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8142-1097-X (cloth : alk. paper) 1. English poetry—19th century—History and criticism—Theory, etc. 2. Literature and society—England—History—19th century. 3. Optics in literature. 4. Photography in lit- erature. 5. Subjectivity in literature. 6. Objectivity in literature. I. Title. PR595.O6P47 2009 821'.8093552—dc22 2008051411 This book is available in the following editions: Cloth (ISBN 978-0-8142-1097-0) CD-ROM (ISBN 978-0-8142-9193-1) Cover design by Dan O'Dair. Text design and typesetting by Jennifer Shoffey Forsythe. Type set in Adobe Palatino. Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Shires_Final for Print.indb 4 6/22/2009 3:43:08 PM For U.
    [Show full text]
  • The Other Side: Themes of Swedenborgian-Spiritualism in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’S the Blessed Damozel ___
    The Other Side: Themes of Swedenborgian-spiritualism in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The Blessed Damozel ___ ROSANNA HAYES This article will explore two expressions of Swedenborgian-Spiritualism in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting The Blessed Damozel and the poem of the same title. This will elucidate how the expression of these notions is in tune with previous scholarship by D. M. R. Bentley suggesting that the Damozel is a fantasy for the character of the lover, and subsequently, probably for Rossetti himself. The two ideas explored will be the retention of human form after death, and communication or spiritual presence between married partners after death separates them and one remains living. he Blessed Damozel painting (figure 1) was begun in 1871 by Dante Gabriel T Rossetti, the painting having been commissioned by one of his faithful patrons William Graham. It was based on the poem which Rossetti first composed in 1847, one of his most important, which he would continue to revise for many years. Having been influenced by the markedly dissimilar poem ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan Poe, The Blessed Damozel story inverts the concept of a pastoral elegy, having the deceased as the subject of grief. The 1850 version of the poem has been chosen for this article due to later revisions not substantially altering the meaning of the story itself. It may also be argued that since this version was published at a date close to its original composition when Rossetti was a late adolescent, it is a truer expression of his ideas. In the painting, which has two tiers demarcated by its frame, the Damozel leans out despondently over a gold bar in heaven as she longs for reunion with her earthbound lover who is still alive.
    [Show full text]
  • Neo-Pre-Raphaelitism: the Final Generations
    Neo-Pre-Raphaelitism: The Final Generations Amanda B. Waterman A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2016 Reading Committee: Susan Casteras, Chair Stuart Lingo Joseph Butwin Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Art History ©Copyright 2016 Amanda B. Waterman University of Washington Abstract Neo Pre-Raphaelitism: The Final Generations Amanda B. Waterman Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Susan P. Casteras Art History The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of seven young men who wanted to rebel against the teachings and orthodoxies of the Royal Academy. It was a short-lived movement, beginning in 1848 and ending in the early 1850s, but this dissertation will argue that their influence lived on and inspired a group of artists who were working at the turn of the century and well into the twentieth-century. This dissertation is unprecedented; it is the first publication which aims to specifically categorize certain artists whose oeuvres are indebted to various generations of Pre-Raphaelitism. In short, I am characterizing these artists and thereby dubbing them “Neo-Pre-Raphaelite,” channeling an early twentieth-century description of some of these artists. The most obvious reason to refer to them by this term is that they are stylistically and/or thematically linked to members of the original PRB or later generations / manifestations of Pre-Raphaelitism. The individuals on whom I am focusing are all British and produced Pre-Raphaelite inspired work from roughly 1895-1950. Consequently, the parameters within which I am working are threefold; firstly, the artists were exhibiting in the late 1880s/1890 – 1920 (a Neo-Pre-Raphaelite period that overlapped for most of them); secondly, those whose work echoed that of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; and thirdly, persons having a working relationship with Edwin Austin Abbey—an American artist who was in a unique position to be a hybrid between the earlier PRB and these younger artists.
    [Show full text]