A Parable of Love

Alternately titled: Love's Mirror

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1850 (circa)
Model: Elizabeth Siddal; Thomas Woolner (Siddal is the model for the young woman, Woolner for the young man)

Bibliography

◦ Marillier, DGR: An Illustrated Memorial, 65.

◦ Marsh, Pre–Raphaelite Sisterhood, 44

◦ Surtees, A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. 1, 220 (no. 668).

◦ Wildman, Visions of Love and Life, 102-103.

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

This may be the first picture DGR made in which his future wife is his model (but see also the 1850 portrait drawing). This picture forecasts the roles that each would soon fill, DGR as Siddal's instructor, she as his pupil. The drawing has much in common with “To Caper Nimbly in a Lady's Chamber”, which was executed around the same time.

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: s668.raw.xml