Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a pioneering artist of the Pre Raphaelite art movement. The name Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood referred to the groups’ opposition to the Royal Academy’s promotion of the Renaissance master Raphael. They were also in revolt also against the triviality of the immensely popular ‘genre painting’ of time. The movement was also inspired by the theories of John Ruskin, who urged artists to ‘go to nature’; they believed in an art of serious subjects treated with maximum realism. Their original themes were initially religious, but they also used subjects from literature and poetry, specifically those dealing with love and death. Some also explored their modern social problems. After initially encountering heavy opposition, the Pre-Raphaelites became highly influential, with a second phase of the movement occurring around 1860, inspired particularly by the work of Rossetti whom was making a major contribution to symbolism.

 Rossetti’s ‘Proserpine’, dated 1874 on the picture, although he worked for seven years on eight separate paintings depicting the same subject. The subject was modelled for by Jane Morris, the wife of the famed artist William Morris, at the time off the painting Rossetti had a love, nearing on obsessive, for her, and she was torn between her husband and newly found lover. The symbolism in Rossetti's painting poignantly shows Proserpine's plight, and simultaneously Jane Morris', torn between her husband, and her lover. The pomegranate draws the viewer's eye, the colour of its flesh matching the colour of Proserpine's lips. The ivy behind her, as Rossetti stated, represents clinging memory and the passing of time; the shadow on the wall is her time in Hades, the patch of sunlight, her glimpse of earth. Her dress, like spilling water, suggests the turning of the tides, and the incense burner denotes the subject as an immortal. Proserpine's saddened eyes, which are the same cold blue colour as most of the painting, indirectly stare at the other realm. Overall, dark hues characterise the colour scheme of the piece giving it a very sombre theme.