Rossetti, Dante Gabriel - Girlhood of the Mary Virgin, 1848 - art postcard

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^{Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :}

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^{The Girlhood of Mary Virgin is an 1849 oil on canvas painting by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, measuring 83.2 by 65.4 cm and now in the collection of Tate Britain, to which it was bequeathed in 1937 by Agnes Jekyll.[1] It was his first completed oil painting and is signed "Dante Gabriele Rossetti P.R.B. 1849". He first exhibited it at the 'Free Exhibition' at the Hyde Park Corner Gallery.}

^{History
Rossetti began the work in summer 1848, working hard and aiming to have it completed for exhibition in March 1849. In November 1848 he mentioned his choice of subject in a letter to his father's friend, Charles Lyell of Kinnordy, stating that it would definitely appeal to members of a religious community. It was a common subject in medieval and renaissance art and usually shows Mary with a book on her lap as her mother, Anne, teaches her to read. But instead Rossetti shows Mary embroidering a lily (traditional symbol of Mary's purity) under Anne's guidance while her father, Joachim, prunes a vine in the background, referring to the coming of Christ (who calls himself "the True Vine" in John 15.1). The vine is shaped like a cross, prefiguring Christ's passion.}

^{Rossetti made several preliminary studies in chalk and the Scottish poet and artist William Bell Scott saw the work in progress in Hunt's studio and remarked on young Rossetti's technique:}

^{He was painting in oils with water-colour brushes, as thinly as in water-colour, on canvas which he had primed with white till the surface was a smooth as cardboard, and every tint remained transparent. I saw at once that he was not an orthodox boy, but acting purely from the aesthetic motive. The mixture of genius and dilettantism of both men shut me up for the moment, and whetted my curiosity.[2]}

^{The models were sourced from close to home - Anne was portrayed by Rossetti's mother Frances, his sister Christina Georgina modelled for Mary, and the family servant Williams for Joachim. The angel's face was originally based on the half-sister of Thomas Woolner (1825-1892), but in August 1849 Rossetti replaced her features with those of another girl, recommended to him by his fellow Pre-Raphaelite James Collinson (1825-1881).}

^{Rossetti wrote two sonnets to explain the painting's symbolism - the first was engraved at the bottom of the original frame, whilst the second was printed in the Free Exhibition catalogue.[3] A crossed palm branch on the floor refers to Palm Sunday and Good Friday and the pale roses and thorn-shaped branches on the wall to Christ's passion and Mary's seven joys and seven sorrows. The oil lamp symbolises piety, three of the books are in colours symbolising the three cardinal virtues and the rose is another symbol of Mary (the 'rose without a thorn'). The Annunciation is prefigured by a dove, symbolising the Holy Spirit,}

^{It received a generally good reception and reviews at the Free Exhibition. It was bought for £80 by Louisa, marchioness of Bath, wife of John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath and a family friend of the Rossettis - Rossetti repainted Mary's dress and the angel's face before sending the work to her, whilst the payment for it funded a trip to Belgium and France by him and William Holman Hunt. It was exhibited again in 1850 in the Portland Gallery Exhibitions at the Royal Academy, where it received a less friendly reception. By 1864 it was owned by Lady Louise Fielding, who that year sent it back to Rossetti for repainting - he turned the angel's wings from white to deep pink and Mary's sleeves from yellow to brown. The original frame with its rounded upper corners was also replaced by a rectangular frame with both of Rossetti's sonnets on its base.[4]}

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (/rəˈzɛti/),[1] was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement, most notably William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. His work also influenced the European Symbolists and was a major precursor of the Aesthetic movement.

Rossetti's art was characterised by its sensuality and its medieval revivalism. His early poetry was influenced by John Keats. His later poetry was characterised by the complex interlinking of thought and feeling, especially in his sonnet sequence, The House of Life. Poetry and image are closely entwined in Rossetti's work. He frequently wrote sonnets to accompany his pictures, spanning from The Girlhood of Mary Virgin (1849) and Astarte Syriaca (1877), while also creating art to illustrate poems such as Goblin Market by the celebrated poet Christina Rossetti, his sister.

Rossetti's personal life was closely linked to his work, especially his relationships with his models and muses Elizabeth Siddal (whom he married), Fanny Cornforth and Jane Morris.

Tate Britain, Birmingham, Manchester, Salford Museum and Art Galleries and Wightwick Manor National Trust, all contain large collections of Rossetti's work; Salford was bequeathed a number of works following the death of L. S. Lowry in 1976. Lowry was president of the Newcastle-based 'Rossetti Society', which was founded in 1966.[53] Lowry's private collection of works was chiefly built around Rossetti's paintings and sketches of Lizzie Siddal and Jane Morris, and notable pieces included Pandora, Proserpine and a drawing of Annie Miller.

In an interview with Mervyn Levy, Lowry explained his fascination with the Rossetti women in relation to his own work: "I don't like his women at all, but they fascinate me, like a snake. That's why I always buy Rossetti whenever I can. His women are really rather horrible. It's like a friend of mine who says he hates my work, although it fascinates him."[54] The friend Lowry referred to was businessman Monty Bloom, to whom he also explained his obsession with Rossetti's portraits: "They are not real women.[...] They are dreams.[...] He used them for something in his mind caused by the death of his wife. I may be quite wrong there, but significantly they all came after the death of his wife."[54]

The popularity, frequent reproduction, and general availability of Rossetti's later paintings of women have led to this association with "a morbid and languorous sensuality".[55] His small-scale early works and drawings are less well known, but it is in these that his originality, technical inventiveness, and significance in the movement away from Academic tradition can best be seen.[56] As Roger Fry wrote in 1916, "Rossetti more than any other artist since Blake may be hailed as a forerunner of the new ideas" in English Art.[57]