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The Day Dream

Dante Gabriel Rossetti1880 (painted) - 1880

The Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom

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

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  • 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
The Victoria and Albert Museum

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