Thursday, September 3, 2009

Dante Gabriel Rossetti - La Pia de Tolomei


I featured the full painting:
but wanted to highlight Jane's face.
This was painted at the start of their affair (though whether it was ever a physical affair will probably never be known). Rossetti deluded himself that William Morris was keeping Jane against her will and chose this tale from Dante to reinforce his belief.
Jane seems out of proportion to her background, and her neck almost dislocated, its whiteness highlighting it and the face. Her natural hair colour was dark brown but strangely Rossetti paints it like Lizzie's with a heavy auburn tint.

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