Transcript GirlhoodMary

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI
THE GIRLHOOD OF
MARY VIRGIN
ROSSETTI’S COMMENTS
IN A LETTER TO CHARLES LYELL
“It belongs to the religious class which has always
appeared to me the most adapted and the most worthy
to interest the members of a Christian community. The
subject is the education of the Blessed Virgin. In order,
therefore, to attempt something more probable and at
the same time less commonplace, I have represented
the future Mother of Our Lord as occupied in
embroidering a lily,—always under the direction of St.
Anne; the flower she is copying being held by two little
angels. At a large window in the background, her father
is seen pruning a vine. There are various symbolic
accessories which it is needless to describe”
ABOUT THE PAINTING
•
ROSSETTI REGARDED THE
VIRGIN MARY AS THE HIGHEST
TYPE OF FEMALE VIRTUE
•
HIS FIRST EXHIBITED
PAINTING WAS OF HER AS
GIRL SEATED WITH HER
MOTHER ST. ANNE
•
MARY IS EMBROIDERING A
LILY, AND SHE IS TENDED BY
A CHILD ANGEL
•
THE PAINTING ATTEMPTS TO
SHOW THE EDUCATION OF
MARY
CHARACTERISTIC OF PRERAPHAELITE PAINTING:
NATURALISM
• LOVE OF NATURAL OBJECTS, ESPECIALLY PLANTS
FOR THEIR OWN SAKE
• WEALTH OF DETAIL – RICHNESS, FULLNESS AND
LOTS OF ORNAMENTATION
• PRETERNATURAL BRILLIANCE - LOVE OF COLOR
AND LIGHT SHOWN WITH CLARITY AND DELICACY
NATURALISM
• MARY’S FATHER PRUNING
VINES
• MARY IS EMBRODERING A
LILY
• LILY BEING GROWN IN POT
• SEVEN-LEAVED PALM ON
THE GROUND
• VERY DETAILED PAINTING;
LEAVES, BACKGROUND
• COLOR AND LIGHT APPEAR
NATURAL AND DELICATE,
MAYBE SUNKISSED
CHARACTERISTIC OF PRERAPHAELITE PAINTING:
NATURAL SUPERNATURALISM
• ATTEMPT TO UNITE THE WORLD OF NATURE WITH
THE WORLD OF SPIRIT, CONNECT BODY AND SOUL,
REAL AND IDEAL
• TENDENCY TOWARD RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM AND
SYMBOLIC ATMOSPHERES
• SYMBOLS TEND TO BE MYSETERIOUS AND IMPLY
ASSOCIATION WITH THE SUPERNATURAL
SUPERNATURAL SYMBOLS
• LILY: MARY’S PURITY
• VINE: CHRISTIAN TRUTH
AND SACRIFICE OF
CHRISTS LIFE
• ROSE: ASSOCIATED WITH
VIRGIN
• PALM: PREDICTS
FORTHCOMING PASSION
OF CHRIST
• DOVE: HOLY SPIRIT
SUPERNATURAL SYMBOLS
• RED CLOAK: ROBE OF
CHRIST
• LAMP: PIETY
• LATICE: CROSS
• ANGEL: GABRIEL WHO
ANNOUNCED MARY WOULD
BEAR THE SON OF GOD
• BOOKS: REPRESENT THE 3
CARDINAL AND
THEOLOGICAL VIRTURES
TWO SONNETS
•
This is that blessed Mary, pre-elect
God's Virgin. Gone is a great while,
and she
Was young in Nazareth of Galilee.
Her kin she cherished with devout
respect:
Her gifts were simpleness of
intellect And supreme patience.
From her mother's knee
Faithful and hopeful; wise in
charity; Strong in grave peace; in
duty circumspect.
So held she through her girlhood;
as it were
An angel-watered lily, that near God
Grows, and is quiet. Till one dawn,
at home,
She woke in her white bed, and had
no fear At all, - yet wept till
sunshine, and felt awed;
Because the fullness of the time
was come.
•
These are the symbols. On that
cloth of red I' the centre, is the
Tripoint, - perfect each
Except the second of its points, to
teach That Christ is not yet born.
The books (whose head
Is golden Charity, as Paul hath said)
Those virtues are wherein the soul
is rich: Therefore on them the lily
standeth, which
Is Innocence, being interpreted.
The seven-thorned briar and the
palm seven-leaved
Are her great sorrows and her great
reward.
Until the time be full, the Holy One
Abides without. She soon shall
have achieved
Her perfect purity: yea, God the
Lord
Shall soon vouchsafe His Son to be
her Son.