Desdemona's Death–Song (unfinished head)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
1879–1881 (circa)
Physical Description
Medium: oil on canvas grounded with Indian red (cut from larger canvas)
Dimensions: 17 x 15 1/2 in.
Production Description
Production Date: 1879–1881 (circa)
Exhibition History: National Trust 1949–1953 (no.57)
Provenance
Current Location: William E. Fredeman
Archival History: W.M. Rossetti; Mrs. H. Rossetti Angeli; William E. Fredeman 1963
Reproductions
-
Benedetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 333. -
McGowan, John P., "The Bitterness of Things Occult" Victorian Poetry, 20.3-4/Autumn-Winter 1982: 45-64.
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
File Name:
s254h.rap.xml
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
Fredeman recounts the wartime misfortunes of this painting: “When the family home at 3 St. Edmund's Terrace, [sic] was damaged by bombs during the war, Mrs. Angeli and Imogen [Dennis] went up to London from Barnstable, hired fourteen taxis, rescued her invalid sister, Mary, and took away as much as they could of the contents of the house. From the four unfinished Rossetti oils in the basement, including my Desdemona, she removed the heads with a butcher knife. That night there was a direct hit on the house and whatever remained was destroyed” (Fredeman, “The Great Pre-Raphaelite Paper Chase,” 14).
Bibliography