Venus surrounded by mirrors reflecting her in different views Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 1863
Venus surrounded by mirrors reflecting her in different views DGR Commentary
Introduction

This important drawing underscores DGR's general approach to his obsessive involvement with the female portrait. The dating is approximate—the sketch might be as late as 1866.

Although the composition that DGR sketched for this painting is different from Titian's 1555 <hi rend="i">Venus with a Mirror</hi> , it is obvious that he had in mind a reprise on the Titian masterpiece. The latter represents two different views rendered through the pair of mirrors held by the Cupids. The conception of an indefinite number of views is characteristic of DGR's general imaginative approach. The sketch depicts a woman lifting her hair as she stands before a toilet mirror. How DGR would have represented the conception of multiple views is not apparent from the drawing.

Textual History: Composition

Textual History: Revision

Production History

Reception

Iconographic

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

Translation

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

Fredeman, A Rossetti Cabinet , 4 (plate 23 note). McGann, The Game that Must be Lost , chapter 6.

A Rossetti Cabinet drawing Venus surrounded by mirrors reflecting her in different views DGR 1863 (circa) pen and ink on handmade paper 1 The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1911 0