The Loving Cup

This is one of three watercolour replicas painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and assistants of his original oil painting, for which the model was Alexa Wilding. In this version the model is Ellen Smith instead, a laundry maid from Chelsea, South West London.

This painting was largely painted under Rossetti's supervision by Henry Treffry Dunn, who became his studio assistant in 1867. It is probable the finishing touches were added by Rossetti himself, as the quality of the execution is superior to most of Dunn's works. The couplet of poetry inscribed on the frame is from a French ballad, pledging happiness by day and night to the unseen partner of the loving cup.