Information
One of several versions of this subject, this painting was unfinished at the time of Rossetti's death and the background was completed by Ford Madox Brown. The painting is a personal expression of Rossetti's love for his deceased wife, Elizabeth Siddal, seen through the writings of Dante (the subject is taken from 'La Vita Nuova'). In this version, the poppies are red, perhaps an explicit reference to opium-derived laudanum. Another version of the painting is in the Tate collection. There are also numerous related pencil studies in the Birmingham collection, as well as a large ornamental maijolica dish painted with a scene of Rossetti's 'Dante's Dream'.
- Purchased, 1891.
- © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Makers
Association |
Artist |
Organisation |
Artist |
Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
- |
Artist |
Ford Madox Brown |
- |
Inscriptions
Type |
Position(s) |
Method |
Date(s) |
Notes |
Quomodo sedet sol |
Text |
frame |
Painted |
- |
|
|
Exhibitions
Catalogue No. |
Venue |
Date(s) |
The Permanent Collection of Paintings, and a Special Loan Collection of Modern Pictures |
175 |
Birmingham Musuem and City Art Gallery |
1891-10-02 - 1892 |
|
Loan Exhibition of Works by Ford Madox Brown and the Pre-Raphaelites |
158 |
City of Manchester Art Gallery |
1911-09-14 - 1911-11 |
|
Loan Collection of Works by English Pre-Raphaelite Painters Lent by the Art Gallery Committee of the Birmingham Corporation |
11 |
National Gallery of British Art (now Tate Gallery, London) |
1911-12 - 1912-03 |
|
Some Pre-Raphaelite Paintings and Drawings |
- |
National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth |
1955-07 - 1955-10 |
- |
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea |
- - 1955-10 |
|
Pictures from Birmingham by British Artists |
54 |
National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth |
1956 - 1956 |
|
Nineteenth-Century English Art |
69 |
Folkestone Art Gallery, Kent |
1965 - 1965 |
|
Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery |
42 |
Hong Kong Museum of Art |
1984-10-20 - 1984-12-02 |
|
Whisper of the Muse: The World of Julia Margaret Cameron |
78 |
Colnaghi, London |
1990 - 1990 |
|
Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
27 |
Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo |
1990-09-22 - 1990-11-14 |
27 |
Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, Nagoya |
1990-11-17 - 1990-12-09 |
27 |
Ishibashi Museum of Art, Kurume |
1991-01-08 - 1991-02-14 |
|
Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England |
104 |
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington |
1995-03-09 - 1995-05-07 |
104 |
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
1995-05-27 - 1995-07-16 |
104 |
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington |
1995-08-11 - 1995-10-15 |
104 |
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas |
1995-11-04 - 1996-01-02 |
104 |
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia |
1996-01-23 - 1996-01-231996-04-10 |
104 |
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery |
1996-05-25 - 1996-09-29 |
|
Art Nouveau |
no cat no. |
Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
2000 - 2000 |
|
Literature
Author(s) |
Date(s) |
Publisher |
Pages |
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: an Illustrated Memorial of his Art and Life |
H C Marillier |
1899 |
George Bell and Sons, London |
no. 284; p. 129. |
|
City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham: Catalogue of Paintings |
|
1960 |
City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham |
p. 127 |
|
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882, The Paintings and Drawings: A Catalogue Raisonne |
Virginia Surtees |
1971 |
Oxford University Press, London |
vol. 1, no. 168R5, p. 96 |
|
The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Circle: a booklet illustrating, with descriptive notes, some of the most important works of the Pre-Raphaelites in the permanent collection of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
|
1979 |
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham |
p. 50 |
|
Sotheby's sales catalogue, 20 June 1989 |
|
1989 |
Sotheby's, London |
no. 68 |
|
The Age of Rossetti, Burne-Jones and Watts: Symbolism in Britain 1860-1910 |
Andrew Wilton, Robert Upstone |
1997 |
Tate Gallery Publishing, London |
pp. 155-57 |
|
The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites |
Elizabeth Prettejohn |
2000 |
Tate Publishing, London |
p. 200 |
|
Whisper of the Muse: The World of Julia Margaret Cameron |
Jeremy Howard |
1990 |
Colnaghi, London |
pp. 95-97 |
|
Christie's sale catalogue, 28 November 2001 |
|
2001 |
Christie's, London |
no. 20, pp. 107-11 |
Provenance
Given to Mrs. W. M. Rossetti by the artist; bought in 1891 by City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. |
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