Mary in the House of St. John Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 © Delaware Art Museum, Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial Mary in the House of St. John DGR 1858 Hogarth Club, 1859; R.A., 1883 (no.369); Art Nouveau Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1960; Watercolours in American Collections, American Federation of Arts, Travelling Exhibition, 1961-63; Indianapolis and Hungtington Hartford, 1964 (no.55); R.A., 1973 (no.113); Baden-Baden, 1973-74 (no.120); Yale, 1976 (no.41) Lady Pauline Trevelyan 1858 (circa) 100 guineas Wilmington Society of Fine Arts, Delaware (the Bancroft Collection) 47-8 Lady Pauline Trevelyan; R. E. Loft; Purchased by Mary Garrett circa 1885; bequeathed in 1915 to M. Carey Thomas, President Emeritus of Bryn Mawr College, PA, who in turn bequeathed it to Bryn Mawr College. In 1947 the work was sold to the Wilmington Society for the Fine Arts for the Bancroft Collection. watercolour 18 x 14 in. monogram 1858 Monogram and date at lower right. Surtees, <hi rend="i">A Catalogue Raisonné</hi> , vol. 2, plate 154. Elzea, <hi rend="i">Bancroft and Related Collections</hi> , 107. Ruth Herbert Ruth Herbert was the model for Mary. H. W. Fisher The model for the head of St. John is reported to be H. W. Fisher, the father of H. A. L. Fisher, former Warden of New College, Oxford. <artist/> <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>Of the two finished watercolours, this is often considered the better. DGR himself regarded it as <quote>“the more finished”</quote> of the two (the other he said was <quote>“the more forcible”</quote> (quoted in <bibl> <author>Surtees</author>, <xref doc="a.n6797.r58s9.vol1.rad" from="65" workcode="s110" to="67"> <title level="bk"> <hi rend="i">A Catalogue Raisonné</hi> , vol. 1, 67 ).

Production History

This was the first of the versions of the picture that DGR completed (in 1858). He had begun work on the subject in 1856 when he made a drawing for the watercolour commissioned by Ellen Heaton. But he seems not to have finished the Heaton picture until the year after this version for Lady Trevelyan. DGR exhibited the picture at the Hogarth Club in January 1859 (see George Boyce's diary entry for January 3, 1859).

Reception

Iconograpic

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

Elzea, <hi rend="i">Bancroft and Related Pre-Raphaelite Collections</hi> , 106-107. Grieve, <hi rend="i">Art of DGR: Watercolors and Drawings</hi> , 33-35. Marillier, <hi rend="i">An Illustrated Memorial</hi> , 99-100. Sharp, <hi rend="i">DGR: A Record and a Study</hi> , 162-163. Surtees, <hi rend="i">A Catalogue Raisonné</hi> , vol. 1, 65-67 (no. 110). Surtees, <hi rend="i">A Catalogue Raisonné</hi> , vol. 2, plate 154. Surtees, <hi rend="i">Diaries of George Price Boyce</hi> , 25.