A variant of this description was originally published at The Rossetti Archive.
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
According to Surtees, this is the last portrait Dante Gabriel Rossetti made of his mother. It was completed during his recuperative stay at Hunter's Forestall, Kent (Surtees 188).
See the commentary for the early drawing and the later finished oil as well as Rossetti's letter to his brother of 28 September 1877 where he says he has “commenced a successful drawing of Mamma's head, quite up to my mark, and . . . I have no longer any doubts as to my being able to work much as heretofore.” (Fredeman 1877. 92).
General Description
Date: 1877.
Model: Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori Rossetti.
Physical Description
Medium: Coloured chalks.
Dimensions: 15 1/4 x 13 in.
Signature: Monogram.
Date on Image: 1877.
Note: The monogram is inscribed at lower left.
Production Description
Production Date: 1877.
Exhibition History: B.F.A.C. 1883, (No. 41).
Model: Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori Rossetti.
Provenance
Current Location: Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery.
Catalog Number: 484'04.
Archival History: Charlotte Polidori; Christina Rossetti; William Michael Rossetti; Fairfax Murray; Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery.
Works Cited
Fredeman, William E. The Correspondence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. D. S. Brewer, 2002.
Surtees, Virginia. The Paintings and Drawings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882): A Catalogue Raisonne. Vol 2. Clarendon Press, 1971.
How to Cite this Web Page (MLA format)
McGann, Jerome. “Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Mrs. Gabriele Rossetti (1877).” Rossetti Archive Galleries. The COVE: The Central Online Victorian Educator, covecollective.org. [Here, add your last date of access to Th