Information

In 1855-56 Rossetti made five designs for illustrations to Moxon's edition of Tennyson, published in 1857. Three of these designs of which this is one, he later carried out in watercolour. The subject is dervied from Tennyson's 'Sir Galahad', inspired by Malory. The four other subjects were 'The Lady of Shalott', 'Mariana in the South' and two from 'The Palace of Art'. This composition shows the strong influence of Burne-Jones.

This watercolour illustrates Tennyson's Sir Galahad -'Between dank stems the forest glows,
I hear a noise of hymns:
Then by some secret shrine I ride;
I hear a voice, but none are there;
The stalls are void, the doors are wide,
The tapers burning fair.
Fair gleams the snowy altar-cloth,
The silver vessels sparkle clean,
The shrill bell rings, the censer swings,
And solemn chants resound between.'

  • Purchased through the Art Gallery Purchase Fund, 1892.
  • © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Makers

Association Artist Organisation
Artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti -

Inscriptions

Type Position(s) Method Date(s) Notes
monogram
Monogram bottom centre Painted -
 

Exhibitions

Catalogue No. Venue Date(s)
Madox Brown and the Pre-Raphaelites
159 Manchester City Art Gallery 1911 - 1911
 
Works by the English Pre-Raphaelite Painters Lent by the Art Gallery Committee of the Birmingham Corporation
51 Tate Gallery, London 1911-12 - 1912-03
 
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
108 Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery 1947 - 1947
 
Loan Exhibition of Pictures from the Birmingham Art Gallery
57 Agnew's, London 1957 - 1957
 
Peintures et Aquarelles Anglaises, 1700-1900, du Musee de Birmingham
94 Musée de Lyon, France 1966-10-23 - 1966-11-20
 
Paintings and Drawings from the Leathart Collection
60 Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1968-10-07 - 1968-11-16
 
William Morris and the Middle Ages
112 Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester 1984-09-28 - 1984-12-08
 
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
- Bankamura Museum of Art, Tokyo 1990-09-22 - 1990-11-14
- Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, Nagoya 1990-11-17 - 1990-12-03
- - 1991-01-08 - 1991-02-14
 
British Watercolours from Birmingham 1750-1900
97 Tokyo Station Gallery, and Japan tour 1991-06-01 - 1991-07-07
97 Bankside Gallery, London 1992-01-22 - 1992-03-01
97 Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery 1992 - 1992
 
Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England
50 Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington 1995-03-09 - 1995-05-07
50 Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio 1995-05-27 - 1995-07-16
50 Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington 1995-08-11 - 1995-10-15
50 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas 1995-11-04 - 1996-01-02
50 High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia 1996-01-23 - 1996-04-10
50 Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery 1996-05-25 - 1996-09-29
 
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
84 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 2003-10-16 - 2004-01-18
84 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam 2004-02-27 - 2004-06-06
 
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites
119 Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery 2005-10-01 - 2006-01-15
119 Museum Villa Stuck, Munich 2006-03-09 - 2006-06-18
119 Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum of Art 2006-09-11 - 2006-11-26
 

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 p. 79.
 
The History of Modern Painting
Richard Muther 1907 J. M. Dent, London vol. 3, p. 166.
 
-
April 1899 The Artist vol.24, no.232, p. 185.
 
'A Victorian Parody'
Leonee Osmond January 1967 Apollo -
 
Victorian Painting
Graham Reynolds 1966 Studio Vista, London p. 72.
 
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882, The Paintings and Drawings: A Catalogue Raisonne
Virginia Surtees 1971 Oxford University Press, London vol. 1, no. 115; vol. 2, pl. 171.
 
Pre-Raphaelite Drawings: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Andrea Rose 1977 The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London no. 1A4
 
Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England.
Stephen Wildman 1995 Arts Services International, Alexandria, Virginia p. 180.
 
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Edwin Becker, Elizabeth Prettejohn, Julian Treuherz 2003 Waanders, Zwolle pp. 176-79.
 
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites
Colin Cruise 2005 Merrell, London p. 160.

Provenance

James Leathart; bought in 1892 by City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery for £157.10.

Associated people

Name Type
Lord Alfred Tennyson Author
Elizabeth Siddal Artist's model

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