The scene of this haunting work is medieval and the woodland setting perhaps recalls specifically Dante's “selva oscura
”.
“Executed for Boyce during the artist's honeymoon in Paris (1860) to replace an earlier pen and ink drawing (1851), either lost or destroyed, of the same subject . . . . Called by Rossetti the ‘Bogie drawing’, it illustrates the legend of the Doppelgänger which had fascinated him since childhood
(
A Catalogue Raisonné
Grieve's comments on the picture's art historical relations, both contemporary and historical, are useful (see The Pre–Raphaelites
The picture may be usefully compared with various of DGR's literary works, perhaps the
The Pre–Raphaelites
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
A Catalogue Raisonné