Commentary
Introduction
Like
<hi rend="i">Proserpine</hi>
, this is in effect a “triple-work” rather than
a double—the only two such works in DGR's corpus. In each case
DGR, after completing his picture, wrote an accompanying sonnet in Italian,
and then translated the sonnet into English.
Textual History: Composition
A draft copy of the Italian sonnet is
in the Humanities Research Center at Texas, along with a corrected copy of the English sonnet.
DGR sent a fair copy of both the Italian and the English sonnets in his
letter to
Stephens of ca. 10 August 1875 and Stephens used these texts and
commentaries for the essay on DGR's paintings that he published several days
later in
<hi rend="i">The Athenaeum</hi>
(see his
“Pictures by Mr. Rossetti”
,
<hi rend="i">The Athenaeum</hi>
, 219-221
).
Another fair copy of the
Italian sonnet is in the library of the Delaware Art Museum. Finally, fair copies of
both
the Italian sonnet and the English translation
are preserved in the Princeton University library.
Textual History: Revision
Production History
Begun early in February 1875 for Murray Marks, DGR told Howell that “£1050 is what I must pocket as its price” (see
Fredeman , Correspondence
75. 11
). He was finishing the crayon study at the end of April and seems to have completed the oil sometime before 20 July, though it remained in his studio until September, when Marks finally claimed possession (
Fredeman , Correspondence
75. 81
).
Iconographic
Faxon comments usefully on the iconography: “The iris and the lemon tree in the foreground are symbols of the Virgin, while the rose is a symbol of the Virgin and of Venus. The scallop-shaped basin is also a symbol of Venus. . . . The hand washing here denotes purity rather than the end of an affair” (
Faxon,
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
206-207
).
Printing History
The sonnets were first published together, along with the English/Italian
pair of the
<hi rend="i">Proserpine</hi>
sonnets, in
<hi rend="i">The Athenaeum</hi>
under the heading “Sonnets for Pictures” (28
August 1875). DGR then republished them with slight variations
in the 1881
Ballads and Sonnets
and they were collected thereafter.
Pictorial
The Italian and English versions of the poem were written
to accompany and comment upon DGR's painting of the same title.
The latter seems in certain respects a deliberate re-presentation of DGR's earlier watercolour
<xref doc="a.s124.raw">
<hi rend="i">Lucrezia Borgia</hi>
</xref>
where, however, the figure of a beautiful woman washing her hands carries dreadful implications, as it does in the similar picture
<xref doc="a.s179.raw">
<hi rend="i">Washing Hands</hi>
</xref>
.
Literary
As DGR observed in his letter to Stephens, the title of both the picture and
sonnets recalls the volume of lyrics by the same title written in 1440 by
Giusto de' Conti (1389?-1449), in imitation of Petrarch. Conti was a poet in
the court of Sigismundo Malatesta of Rimini.
Bibliographic
Agosta, 92
Conti, Il
Canzoniere (1918)
Marillier,
<hi rend="i">DGR: An Illustrated Memorial</hi>
, 185
WMR,
<hi rend="i">DGR Designer and Writer</hi>
, 95
Sharp,
<hi rend="i">Dante Gabriel Rossetti</hi>
, 238-240
Stephens,
<hi rend="i">Dante Gabriel Rossetti</hi>
, 90.
Surtees,
<hi rend="i">A Catalogue Raisonné</hi>
vol. 1, 138-139.