A Vision of Fiammetta (study for flowers)

How much DGR contributed to these two drawings is uncertain, but he did tell Frederick Shields in a letter that he had “repainted” the studies that Shields originally made for him (see Elzea, Bancroft and Related Collections, 150-151). DGR had begun his painting A Vision of Fiammetta in the winter of 1877 and could find no apple blossoms to copy for his picture the following spring. So he wrote to Shields to help him find some blossoms and Shields obliged by making these drawings for his friend. The Shields and DGR correspondence about this matter took place between the end of April and mid-June 1878 (For some undated and slightly misquoted excerpts of DGR's letters see Surtees, Catalogue Raisonné 149).

• Benedetti, Maria Teresa. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 330.
• Elzea, Bancroft and Related Collections, 150-151.
• Surtees, A Catalogue Raisonné , vol. 1, 149 (no. 252C).