The Day Dream

Dante Gabriel Rossetti1880 (painted) - 1880

Oil on canvas, 'The Day Dream', Dante Gabriel Rossetti, England, 1880

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Details

Title: The Day Dream
Creator Lifespan: 1828 - 1882
Date Created: 1880 (painted) - 1880
Type: Oil painting
Rights: Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides
External Link: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O14962
painter (artist): Dante Gabriel Rossetti
painted: England
Subjects Depicted: Morris, Jane; romanticism; reading; books; trees; women; dresses; honeysuckle; flowers
More Information: The sitter for this painting was Jane Morris, the wife of William Morris, who often posed for Rossetti. At the time this was painted Rossetti was involved in an illicit love affair with Jane. He shows her sitting in the branches of a sycamore tree and holding a sprig of honeysuckle. This sweet-smelling climbing plant symbolised the bonds of love for the Victorians, and Rossetti may have included it here as a subtle reference to the relationship between artist and model. Rossetti was also a poet, and the title relates to his poem of the same name which ends: She dreams; till now on her forgotten book Drops the forgotten blossom from her hand.
Materials and Techniques: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Height: 158.7 cm estimate, Width: 92.7 cm estimate, Height: 195.3 cm frame, Width: 128.8 cm frame

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