The poem, by John Lucas Tupper, takes off from
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and is
illustrated by Walter Deverell's etching, which is the frontispiece of
The Germ no. 4.
WMR rightly judged both poem and etching to be poor. But he
noted that “The etching by Deverell, however defective in technique,
claims more attention, as the Viola was drawn from Miss Elizabeth
Eleanor Siddal, whom Deverell
had observed in a bonnet-shop some few months before the etching was
done, and who in 1860
became the wife of Dante Rossetti. This face does not give much idea
of hers, and yet it is not unlike
her in a way. The face of Olivia bears some resemblance to Christina
Rossetti: I think however that it
was drawn, not from her, but from a sister of the artist” (see
his 1901 reprint Introduction page
25).
This collection contains 2 texts and images, including:
Germ text
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
The poem, by John Lucas Tupper, takes off from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and is illustrated by Walter Deverell's etching, which is the frontispiece of The Germ no. 4.
WMR rightly judged both poem and etching to be poor. But he noted that “The etching by Deverell, however defective in technique, claims more attention, as the Viola was drawn from Miss Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal, whom Deverell had observed in a bonnet-shop some few months before the etching was done, and who in 1860 became the wife of Dante Rossetti. This face does not give much idea of hers, and yet it is not unlike her in a way. The face of Olivia bears some resemblance to Christina Rossetti: I think however that it was drawn, not from her, but from a sister of the artist” (see his 1901 reprint Introduction page 25).
Printing History
First printed in The Germ no. 4, page 145.