Dante Gabriel Rossetti’sLa Pia

Backround• “Based on the story of the Lady of Siena as told in Dante’s purgatorio (V. 130-136), the

painting bears within itself an oblique allusion to the relations between Jane Morris, her husband William, and their close friend DGR, Jane sat for this portrait of la Pia who was imprisoned and murdered by her husband in 1295 in a castle in Maremma. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for Mrs. Morris was at a peak of intensity when the painting was begun in 1867-1868.”

• “He fell in love again, this time in Oxford in 1857, with the stunningly beautiful Jane Burden, then only 17 years old. She modeled for La Pia de' Tolomei and Rossetti, despite his best endeavors, found himself helplessly drawn to her. She did not return his feelings and married William Morris instead. Rossetti loved her from a distance for the rest of his life and painted her likeness again and again in his later years. Jane, more even than Lizzie, became the archetypal Pre-Raphaelite beauty, with her strong sensual face and masses of long flowing hair. They remained good and close friends long after her love for William Morris evaporated (and his for her).” http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/rossetti.html

Pre-Raphealite Characteristics in La Pia

• Dramatization of extreme situations for the sake of HEIGHTENED SENSATIONS, as in melodrama.

• NATURAL SUPERNATURALISM. According to Lang, the attempt to reject the philosophic dualism traditional in western civilization and unite the world of nature with the world of

spirit, connect body and soul, real and ideal… It is reflected in the painting by a tendency toward symbolism or symbolic atmospheres and often by the choice of spiritual or religious subjects. It is reflected in the poetry by a similar TENDENCY TOWARD SYMBOLS WHICH ARE OFTEN MYSTERIOUS AND IMPLY SOME ASSOCIATION WITH THE SUPERNATURAL.

• DELIBERATE MEDIEVALISM in the choice of subjects and settings in both painting and

poetry, though classical settings also remain popular.

Drawing a few connections: The Choice of La Pia, reflects the medievalist tendency. The women in the painting is drawn with realistic proportions and features, but has something of idealization about her. The hair is accentuated with the use of light. An aura seems to emanate from her. The scene, which lacks any dramatic elements, retains a sense of urgency, drama and perhaps even tragedy through the posture of La Pia, the awkward position of the hands and the use of darkness which symbolizes a kind of gloom.

Idealization of Woman

• Glenn Everett Describes how Rossetti Changed the conception of feminine beauty during the Victorian Era:

• Feminine Beauty becomes the “tall thin, long-necked, long-haired stunners of frail health that we see in paintings.”

Collection At the Harry Ransom Center

• A small collection of drawings in charcoal, pastel and colored chalk includes studies for Rossetti's Lady Lilith, La Pia, Mary Magdalene and Dante's Dream at the Death of Beatrice.

• Dante Gabriel Rossetti. La Pia. Ca. 1870 75.Pastel on paper.38 x 30" (96.5 x 76.2 cm).