“Found” (for a Picture) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 1881 February 1854
abbaabbaccdeed iambic pentameter sonnet
<artist/> <location/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnpictorial> <citnmythic> <name/> <culture/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnmythic> <citnhistorical> <event/> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnhistorical> <citnautobiographical> <name/> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnautobiographical> <citnscenic> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnscenic> </listcitn> </source> <commentaries> <head>Commentary</head> <section type="intro"> <head>Introduction</head> <p>The sonnet is “for” DGR's famous (unfinished) oil painting of the same title, which he began in 1853-54. The picture represents the climactic moment of a countryman's search for his sweetheart, who has become a prostitute in London. The sentimental literature dealing with this double work's story-picture is very large. DGR seems to have been most immediately inspired by William Bell Scott's “Rosabell”. Coming so late to the picture, the sonnet acquires a singularly personal significance, as it were a commentary on Rossetti's pictorial art in general, which he felt he had prostituted for the sake of worldly success.</p> </section> <section type="texthistcomp"> <head>Textual History: Composition</head> <p>Although the picture was begun as early as 1853, the sonnet was not written until quite late, shortly before 16 February 1881 (see DGR's letter of 16 February to Watts-Dunton, <bibl> <author>Fredeman</author>, <xref doc="a."> <title level="wrk"> <hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi> 81.81 . Two integral manuscripts survive: a heavily corrected copy at Princeton, and a fair copy with one correction in the Getty Library.

Textual History: Revision

Production History

The painting that doubles the sonnet, and that called forth the later text, occupied DGR's attention from the early 50s, and was left unfinished at his death. He referred to it from time to time under various titles, including <hi rend="i">Lost</hi> , <hi rend="i">The Drover</hi> , and <hi rend="i">The Bridge</hi> . He was vigorously at work on the picture again in January and February 1881, which was the impetus for writing the sonnet, and he seems to have believed he would complete it. But he did not.

Reception

Iconographic

Printing History

The sonnet was first printed in the 1881 Ballads and Sonnets and collected thereafter.

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

The sentimental literature dealing with this poem's subject is very large. A classic point of reference is Goldsmith, <hi rend="i">The Deserted Village</hi> , lines 325-336. DGR's early narrative “Jenny” is obviously the closest literary point of reference.

Translation

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

Bandelin, “‘Allegorizing on One's Own Hook’” , 43-46 Bryant, “Two Unfinished Paintings,” 56-76. Bullen, <xref doc="a." workcode="3-1848"> <title level="bk"> <hi rend="i">The Pre-Raphaelite Body</hi> (1998), 61-64, 74-75 Grieve, <hi rend="i">The Art of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 1. Found</hi> , 1-17 Laurent, “Hidden Iconography in <hi rend="i">Found</hi>” 2006, 14-26 Marillier, <hi rend="i">DGR: An Illustrated Memorial</hi> , 169-170 Nochlin, “Lost and <hi rend="i">Found</hi>”, <hi rend="i">Art Bulletin</hi> (1978), 139-153 Oberhausen, “Rossetti's <hi rend="i">Found</hi>”, <hi rend="i">Delaware Art Museum Occasional Papers no. 1</hi> (1976) WMR, <hi rend="i">DGR Designer and Writer</hi> , 18-19 Sharp, <hi rend="i">Dante Gabriel Rossetti</hi> , 265-268 Stephens, <hi rend="i">Dante Gabriel Rossetti</hi> , 37. Surtees, <hi rend="i">A Catalogue Raisonné</hi> vol. 1, 26-32. Wildman, <hi rend="i">Visions of Love and Life</hi> , 144-145.

The first edition of the 1881 Ballads and Sonnets . See WMR's note (1911). Quoting the first line of Keats's sonnet “ To Homer ”. The first edition of the Ballads and Sonnets . Delaware Art Museum oil The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, vol. 1 (1886) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1886 0 Ballads and Sonnets (1881), first edition Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1881 October 17 0 Ballads and Sonnets (1881), second edition Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1881 0 Ballads and Sonnets (1882), fourth edition Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1882 0 Ballads and Sonnets (1881), (author's proofs, British Library copy) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1881 April-June 0 Ballads and Sonnets (1881), proof Signature Y (Delaware Museum, first revise proof) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1881 May 10 0 Ballads and Sonnets (1881), proof Signature Y (Delaware Museum, second revise, partial copy) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1881 May 18 (circa) 0 Ballads and Sonnets (1881), proof Signature Y (Delaware Museum, third revise, author's copy) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1881 May 18 (circa) 0 Ballads and Sonnets (1881), proof Signature Y (Delaware Museum, third revise, WMR's copy) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1881 May 18 (circa) 0 Ballads and Sonnets (1881), proof Signature Z (Delaware Museum, author's copy) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1881 May 7 0 Dante Gabriele Rossetti con 107 Illustrazioni Elena Rossetti Angeli 1906 0 Dante Gabriele Rossetti con 107 Illustrazioni Elena Rossetti Angeli 1906 0 Masterpieces of D. G. Rossetti (1828-1882): Sixty Reproductions of Photographs from the Original Oil-paintings 1923 0 The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood J. Ernest Phythian 1905 0 Dante Gabriel Rossetti Ernest Radford 1905 0 Rossetti Album (miscellaneous collection, Getty/Wormsley Library) DGR and others 1835-1933 0 Dante Gabriel Rossetti F. G. Stephens 1894 0 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, An Illustrated Memorial of His Art and Life H. C. Marillier 1899 0 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, An Illustrated Memorial of His Art and Life H. C. Marillier 1899 0 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, An Illustrated Memorial of His Art and Life H. C. Marillier 1899 0 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, An Illustrated Memorial of His Art and Life H. C. Marillier 1899 0 The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1911 0 Found (oil replica) DGR and H. Treffry Dunn 1867? (date unknown) oil 1 Found DGR 1854 1853 November 13, 1859 1869 oil 21 Found (design) DGR 1855 (circa) pen and ink 5 Found (early design) DGR 1853 1853 pen and ink and brown wash and some Indian ink, and touched with white 1 Found (study for the man and woman) DGR 1856? pencil on cream–toned paper squared for enlargement 1 Found (sketch) DGR 1855 (circa) pencil 1 Found (study for the man and woman together) DGR 1853 (circa) pencil 1 Found (study for the man and woman, naked) DGR 1863? (circa) chalk 1 Found (study for two pairs of hands) DGR 1870s (circa) pencil 1 Found (two studies for head of model) DGR 1870 (circa) pencil and India ink 3 Found (study for man's head) DGR 1855? (probably mid 1850s) pencil 1 Found (pencil study for head of man) DGR 1855 (circa) pencil 1 Found (study for head of man) DGR 1855? pencil 1 Found (study for head of man) DGR 1851 1851 pencil 1 Found (study for calf) DGR 1854? oil 1 Found (finished study for head of woman) DGR 1859 - 1861 (circa) pen and ink and slight ink–wash 4 Found (study for head of woman) DGR 1853 - 1857 (circa) pen and ink over pencil 1 Found (study for head of woman) DGR 1853 - 1857 (circa) pencil, pen and ink 1 Found (sketch of cityscape) uncertain 1860? (if by Rossetti, before 1862) pen and ink 1 Study for Found Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1875? (circa 1869-81) black chalk over traces of red chalk on paper 1 Found: Study for head of man DGR 1867 1 Found: Study for Man's Head [print] Mansell 1857-1890 (circa) photoprint (brown) mounted on white/off-white bristol board 1 Found [print] Frederick Hollyer 1870-1913 (circa) photoprint (black and white) mounted on off-white board 1 Found [print] W. H. Rau 1900 photoprint (glossy black and white) mounted on off-white board 1 Found [print] 1904 photoprint (black and white), unmounted 1 Found [print] 1904 photoprint (black and white), unmounted 1 Found [print] 1904 photoprint (black and white), unmounted 1 Found [print] 1904 photoprint (black and white) mounted on off-white board 1 Found [print] 1857-1913 (circa) photoprint (black and white) mounted on off-white board 1 Found [print] DGR 1904 Brown and cream print mounted on board. 1 Found [print] DGR 1855-1913 (circa) Black and white print, not mounted 1 Found (study for calf) [print] DGR 1992 Color photograph, not mounted 1 The Farmer's Daughter (study for Found) DGR 1861 (circa)? unknown 1 Found [print] DGR 1892 (circa) Charcoal and cream print mounted on cream/beige board 1 Found [print] DGR 1904 Brown and cream photoprint, not mounted 1 Found [print] DGR 1855-1913 (circa) Black and white photoprint, not mounted 1 Study for Found [print] DGR 1875-1900 (circa) 1859-61 Black and white print mounted on white board 1 Study for Found [print] DGR 1855-1913 (circa) 1859-61 Charcoal and cream print mounted on cream board 1 Found [print] DGR 1855-1913 (circa) 1859-61 Black and white print, not mounted 1 Found (monochrome on canvas) DGR 1879 (circa) unknown 1 Found (study for head of woman) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1853 - 1857 pencil with pen and ink 1 Sonnets and Fragments (Princeton/Troxell bound manuscript volume) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1848-1881 0 Found (slight sketch of two figures) DGR 1852? (circa early 1850's)? pen and ink on black-edged writing paper 1