Maria Zambaco thumbnail 1
Maria Zambaco thumbnail 2
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Maria Zambaco

Drawing
late 1860s (made)
Artist/Maker

Maria Zambaco, born Maria Cassavetti, left her husband in Paris in 1866 and became a leading light in London's Greek community. She sat regularly for several artists, including Burne-Jones, to whom she became romantically attached. She also sat for Rossetti. This portrait of her, with her expressive eyes and lips, soft skin and rich, auburn-tinted brown hair, demonstrates his mastery of the use of soft chalks. He used soft chalks increasingly in preference to the more cumbersome medium of oil paint.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMaria Zambaco (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Coloured chalks
Brief description
Portrait in coloured chalks of Maria Zambaco by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, late 1860s.
Dimensions
  • Height: 51.6cm
  • Width: 38.9cm
  • Gilt frame height: 738mm
  • Gilt frame width: 604mm
  • Gilt frame depth: 30mm
Gallery label
Maria Zambaco (born Cassavetti) was a first cousin of Constantine Ionides. She was a sculptor, although she remains better known as a model for other artists. Her features appear repeatedly in the paintings of Rossetti's friend Edward Burne-Jones, whose affair with the tempestuous Zambaco in the late 1860s came close to wrecking his domestic and artistic existence.(May 2008)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides
Subject depicted
Summary
Maria Zambaco, born Maria Cassavetti, left her husband in Paris in 1866 and became a leading light in London's Greek community. She sat regularly for several artists, including Burne-Jones, to whom she became romantically attached. She also sat for Rossetti. This portrait of her, with her expressive eyes and lips, soft skin and rich, auburn-tinted brown hair, demonstrates his mastery of the use of soft chalks. He used soft chalks increasingly in preference to the more cumbersome medium of oil paint.
Bibliographic reference
Fagence Cooper, Suzanne, Pre Raphaelite Art in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, V&A Publications, 2003. 176p., ill. ISBN I 85177 393 2
Collection
Accession number
CAI.1149

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Record createdJanuary 8, 2004
Record URL
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