This is a study for the head of the central figure in a three-quarter-length oil painting that is now in the City of Manchester Art Gallery. The subject was Rossetti's invention, and he also wrote a sonnet about her. His poetry was not intended to explain his painting, or his painting to illustrate his poetry: the two arts were different means of expressing the same idea. Both place stress on the subject's physical attributes, her remarkable neck, lips and eyes. She shared these features with Jane Morris, Rossetti's mistress, on whom the figure was modelled.
Physical description
Full face female head and shoulders
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
Date
1875 (drawn)
Artist/maker
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, born 1828 - died 1882 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Coloured chalks
Dimensions
Height: 77.5 cm framed, Width: 68 cm framed, Height: 54.6 cm, Width: 44.7 cm, Depth: 6 cm framed
Object history note
The finished picture, Astarte Syriaca (1877) is in Manchester Art Gallery.
A pastel drawing of Jane Morris dated 1876 (Surtees 261B), a study for Mnemosyne (1881; Delaware Art Museum), appears to be a replica of 490-1883. The 1876 pastel was included in the exhibition The Poetry of Drawing: Pre-Raphaelite Designs, Studies and Watercolours at Birmingham Museum, 29th January to 15th May 2011.
Descriptive line
Study of Jane Morris for Astarte Syriaca by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1875.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Fagence Cooper, Suzanne, Pre Raphaelite Art in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, V&A Publications, 2003. 176p., ill. ISBN I 85177 393 2
Mikael Ahlund, ed, including an essay by Martin Barnes, The Pre-Raphaelites Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 2009. ISBN: 978-91-7100-809-1.
Exhibiton catalogue
Vikutoria & Arub?to Bijutsukan-z? : eikoku romanshugi kaigaten = The Romantic tradition in British painting, 1800-1950 : masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum / selected by Mark Evans [Japan : Brain Trust], 2002. 185 p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 30 cm.
Virginia Surtees, The Paintings and Drawings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), Oxford, 1971, no. 249C
Exhibition History
The Pre-Raphaelites: Dream and Reality in 19th Century Britain (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm 26/02/2009-24/05/2009)
The Romantic Tradition in British Painting 1800-1950: Masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo, Kobe, Japan 28/01/2003-06/04/2003)
The Romantic Tradition in British Painting 1800-1950: Masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Koriyama City Museum of Art 22/11/2002-27/12/2002)
The Romantic Tradition in British Painting 1800-1950: Masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Matsuzakaya Museum, Nagoya, Japan 19/10/2002-11/11/2002)
The Romantic Tradition in British Painting 1800-1950: Masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan 24/08/2002-06/10/2002)
Subjects depicted
Jane Morris; Astarte (Syriaca)
Categories
Portraits; Drawings
Collection code
PDP
