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Lady Lilith (replica)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

1867

Physical Description

Medium: watercolour

Dimensions: 20 1/2 x 16 in.

Date on Image: 1867

Production Description

Production Date: 1867

Exhibition History: B.F.A.C., 1883 (no. 55); New Gallery, 1897 ( no. 42); Tokyo, 1990

Patron: Ernest Gambart

Date Commissioned: 1867

Model: Fanny Cornforth

Provenance

Current Location: Private collection, Tokyo

Archival History: The replica belonged to Alexander Stevenson in 1899. This is the picture, mentioned by WMR, that was done for Ernest Gambart who sold it to a Mr. Tong.

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

The importance of this picture lies in its relation to DGR's original painting. This is one of the two replicas that preserve the face of Fanny Cornforth, who was the original model. The picture was radically altered when DGR substituted the face of Alexa Wilding for Fanny Cornforth's, and most commentators believe the change robbed the picture of its essential power.

Bibliography

Allen, “‘One Strangling Golden Hair’,” The Art Bulletin 66 (June 1984), 285-294.
Angeli, DGR con 107 illustrazioni , 113.
Elzea, Bancroft and Related Collections, 114-117.
Faxon, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 201-203.
Marillier, DGR: An Illustrated Memorial , 132-34, 154.
Miller, “Rossetti's Double Work of Art,” VP 29 (Winter 1991), 333-349.
Pittman, “Strumpet and the Snake,” VP12 (Spring 1979), 45-50.
Smith, “Lady Lilith and the Language of Flowers,” Arts Magazine 53 (February 1979), 142-145.
Stephens, Dante Gabriel Rossetti , 66-69.
Surtees, A Catalogue Raisonné , vol. 1, 118 (no. 205.r-2).
Swinburne, Notes on the Royal Academy Exhibition, 46-47.

Subject: Worldly Beauty

Reproductions

Angeli, DGR con 107 illustrazioni , 113.

Electronic Archive Edition: 1

File Name: s205.r-2.rap.xml