Eight Rossetti Prints Even University Students Can Afford

Title: Eight Rossetti Prints Even University Students Can Afford

Updated June 20, 2009: As requested by msvanhollywood this recolour set now contains "La Ghirlandata" (1872), which may be downloaded in rossetti_uni_ghirlandata.zip. Modeled after Alexa Wilding, with May Morris as the angel, I have included a cropped version in chalk, as shown on the left, with its final form in oils, as shown on the right.


Description

These University "Stick 'Em Up Bulletin Board" recolours cost only §75 each and have an Environment value of 1. Now even students can have fine art in their rooms!

This is a collection of mature works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, each with a serious if not tragic tone. Ostensibly all they have in common is their aspect ratio, but it seems to me there is a more subtle connection between them.

The first picture is of Shakespeare's ill-fated character Desdemona, from the play Othello. This chalk drawing of Jane Morris, circa 1871, was made in preparation for a painting that would have gone in a musician's drawing room. Rossetti died before he could complete this project. Desdemona is pictured here as she is about to sing her Willow Song, a song of love and despair.

Secondly, "La Donna Della Fiamma" (1870) - "The Lady of the Flame" - is yet another chalk drawing modeled by Jane Morris. This image is thought to be a stylized vision of Dante's muse Beatrice.

Last in this group, "The Bower Meadow" in oils (1872), represents what may be Rossetti's only excursion into landscape. The models themselves were added later, in the studio: Marie Spartali Stillman on the left and Alexa Wilding on the right.


On the left, Jane Morris appears as "Silence" (1870), also executed in chalk. The unfinished look is intentional, making the presentation as simple as possible, so that the viewer is encouraged to see the image contemplatively. Rossetti wrote this label for the picture: "Silence holds in her hand a branch of peach, the symbol used by the ancients; its fruit being held to resemble the human heart and its leaf the human tongue. With the other hand she draws together the veil encircling the shrine in which she sits.” For me, this is an image that evokes the High Priestess archetype of the Tarot.

The gorgeous portrait in the centre is another image of Marie Spartali Stillman (1869), done in chalk.

Lastly, we see "Sir Tristram and La Belle Yseult Drinking the Love Potion" (1867), a watercolour illustrating Malory's tale, by which the Irish princess and the valiant knight betray the trust of King Mark.

These images are all in the public domain, and sourced from either The Athenaeum, the Art Renewal Center or the Rossetti Archive. I used SimPE to set reflectivity to zero so as to maximize clarity.

You may include these recolours in any uploaded lots, whether for free or pay - although it would be nice if you included a credit in the description and sent me a PM. Apart from using them in lots, I would prefer that you not upload this collection or portions of it elsewhere.


Additional Credits:

SimPE, which makes it all possible
Corel WEB.PhotoPaint, for picture frame colouring
Microsoft Photo Editor, for adjusting contrast, brightness and size
AnyGameStarter, so handy speeding up the development process
Attribute Change 5.30, used to adjust a file's date and timestamp, which puts the recolours together in consecutive order, with the most recent one furthest to the left.