When a painter makes a single figure the central interest of his
picture, he must, to a certain extent, avail himself of psychological
facts in the model before him, for if he recognises no limits to the
foreign sentiment and character he may impose, he will, little by
little, fall to the creation of a type which is not far short of a
monstrosity. Although the first of his pictures in this new style
are among his finest works we see this inevitable degeneration in
Rossetti's latest paintings.
The first pictures of this kind and some of the best are, "Fazio's
Mistress," and "Lady Lilith." The former is dated 1863, but was
altered and repainted ten years later, and Rossetti changed its
title to "Aurelia." In 1864 he painted the latter which is a modern
conception of that first wife of Adam mentioned in the old Talmudic
Legend. The Lady Lilith is seated against a background covered with
roses. Dressed in white, she holds a mirror in her hand, and combs her
long fair hair. Although dated 1864 it was really not finished until
1867. The face as it is now was repainted in 1873 from a different
model, and is said to be quite inferior to the former one. Rossetti at
that time seemed to be a victim of a mania for repainting his earlier
work.
The next great picture, begun in 1864, is "Venus Verticordia," the oil
version of which was not finished before 1868. It represents the nude
bust of a massively built woman surrounded by roses and honeysuckle.
She holds an arrow in her right hand and in the left an apple on which
a yellow butterfly has alighted. The face is conventionally pretty and
lacks character.
"Morning Music," an elaborate little water-colour; "Monna Pomona," a
girl holding an apple with roses on her lap and in a basket at her
side; "How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Percival received the Holy
Grael" (done in his earlier manner); "Roman de la Rose," a water-colour
version of the earlier panel, and "The Madness of Ophelia," represent
the remaining production of 1864.
There is little to mention in 1865. The most important productions
of that year were "The Blue Bower," and "The Merciless Lady." In the
"Merciless Lady," a water-colour in the style of his earlier romantic
manner, a man sits on a bank of turf between two maidens, with a sunlit
meadow behind. He seems attracted by the one on his left who is fair
and plays a lute, the other, his lady love, holds his hand and with a
sad expression tries to win him back to her. "A Fight for a Woman,"
the composition of which is of a very early date, and the oil-painting,
"Bella e Buona," but renamed "Il Ramoscello," were also painted in 1865.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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