Beauty and the Bird
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
1858 June 25
Physical Description
Medium: pen and India ink
Dimensions: 34.3 x 25.4 cm
Signature: monogram
Date on Image: 25 June 1858
Other production information determined from the object: In Memoriam;
This is a sketch drawn at Little Holland Hse by
Rossetti—Reminiscence of Miss Herbert (partially scratched out with a
knife: “an actress all the Pre-Raffaelites were in love
with.”) G. Weldon
Note: Monogram located at middle right and the date at lower center. Two notes are inscribed in pencil on the drawing. In the lower
center is DGR's endorsement and at the lower right Georgina Treherne has written a
note on the occasion of the drawing.
Production Description
Production Date: 1858 June 25
Provenance
Current Location: Private collection, London
Reproductions
-
Surtees, “Beauty and the Bird”, 84-87.
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
File Name:
sa55.rap.xml
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
This drawing was first noticed in 1973 by Virginia Surtees (see bibliography). It is a sketch of Ruth Herbert, the beautiful young actress whom DGR first saw on the stage in early 1856. She served for a model in a number of DGR's pictures, and DGR also made several portraits of her, of which this is one.
Bibliography