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拍品专文
Perhaps because of the model's voluptuous good looks and rather imperious expression, this drawing has often been thought to represent someone's mistress. Some have seen the sitter as Fanny Cornforth, who was almost certainly Rossetti's mistress before he married Lizzie Siddal in 1860, and who, after Lizzie's death in 1862 and Rossetti's move to 16 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, acted for many years as his mistress, housekeeper and model.
Others have identified the sitter as the mistress (name unknown) of the solicitor and man of letters Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832-1914), not an individual universally liked and admired but a staunch friend to Rossetti in the artist's later years (fig. 1). The drawing belonged to Watts-Dunton, who was presumably given it by Rossetti. He also owned other drawings by the artist, including The Spirit of the Rainbow, Rossetti's only full-length female nude (Lloyd Webber Collection; exh. Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters, Royal Academy, London, 2003, no. 16, illustrated in catalogue); and in her catalogue raisonné of Rossetti's work (1971), Virginia Surtees quotes Sir Sydney Cockerell as telling her that Watts-Dunton had once confided to him that the model for this was his mistress, and that he himself had commissioned Rossetti to make the drawing for him. The notion that our drawing (which is not in Mrs Surtees' catalogue) is also a likeness of Watts-Dunton's mistress seems to rest only on association with
The Spirit of the Rainbow; if she sat for one drawing, the assumption goes, she must have sat for the other. Furthermore, it is argued that since the Spirit is dated 1876, this must be approximately the date of our drawing too.
We find ourselves disagreeing with all these theories. We do not recognise the model as Fanny Cornforth, the subject of innumerable studies by Rossetti whose features are all too well known. Nor do we see any resemblance to The Spirit of the Rainbow, or indeed any compelling reason why the two drawings should represent the same model. In fact the head of the 'Spirit' is of a generalised character, conforming to Rossetti's later ideal, whereas the model for the present drawing, whoever she was, has a very pronounced and individual physiognomy.
As for the date, this is surely a drawing of the mid-to-late 1860s. We might compare, for example, a study of a young woman in the Birmingham Art Gallery (Surtees, no. 554, illustrated pl. 430), which is dated 1865. Possibly modelled by Fanny Cornforth for The Blue Bower (Barber Institute, Birmingham), this is admittedly a more highly finished performance than our drawing, but the handling of the forms is comparable, particularly the rendering of the hair. A closely related drawing, definitely of Fanny and for this picture, and again dated 1865, was sold at Christie's as part of the Newall Collection on 14 December 1979, lot 233 (fig. 2).
It is difficult to hazard a guess as to who the model for our drawing might really be. Many models were passing through Rossetti's studio in the 1860s, often young women of humble origin and easy virtue who were recommended by their good looks. There is a certain similarity with the profile in Joan of Arc (fig. 3), a painting of 1863 for which the model, according to William Michael Rossetti, was a German woman called Mrs Beyer. The full lips seem particularly comparable. On the other hand, an apparently independent study of this sitter that Rossetti made about the same time (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Surtees, no. 266, pl. 394) is not so reminiscent.
Another possibility is Aggie Manetti, a Scottish girl known for her 'Napoleonic' profile. We sold a study of her on 14 June this year (lot 15), but a better comparison here is a profile drawing at Birmingham (Surtees no. 262, pl. 396). In fact, Virginia Surtees suggests that Aggie might have been the model for Joan of Arc, and it is interesting to note that the model in our drawing wears a similar earring to one that features in Rossetti's studies of Aggie. However, whereas Aggie's hair was long, dark and fairly straight, that of the model in our drawing seems to be short, fair and wavy. And of course the earring may simply be a studio prop that Rossetti used indiscriminantely to adorn his models. It is well known that he had a large collection of such pieces.
The Spirit of the Rainbow is said to have been given by Rossetti to Watts-Dunton in return for his professional services in connection with the dissolution of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in 1875, and it may be that the present drawing was also a gift by way of thanks for services rendered. At 'The Pines', Watts-Dunton's still-extant house on Putney Hill, it must have been seen daily not only by its owner and his wife but by their permanent guest, Swinburne, who in 1879 was rescued by Watts-Dunton from alcoholism and carried off to live in abstinence under his suburban roof. Indeed, it is perhaps not too fanciful to imagine that such a striking image of haughty disdain held a more than passing interest for a poet who had so often celebrated the role of the dominatrix.
On Watts-Dunton's death in 1914 (five years after Swinburne's) the drawing was inherited by his widow, Clara, who gave it away in 1916. We do not know why, nor the identity of the recipient, 'A.H.', who left a record of the gift on the back. At all events, the drawing was spared the indignity of appearing in the sale of the contents of 'The Pines' that was held following Mrs Watts-Dunton's death in 1938. With war looming and the Pre-Raphaelites' reputation still in the doldrums, prices were at rock bottom. The Spirit of the Rainbow fetched a mere £10, and no Rossetti drawing went for more than £78, the price of an attractive Reverie modelled by Jane Morris.
Others have identified the sitter as the mistress (name unknown) of the solicitor and man of letters Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832-1914), not an individual universally liked and admired but a staunch friend to Rossetti in the artist's later years (fig. 1). The drawing belonged to Watts-Dunton, who was presumably given it by Rossetti. He also owned other drawings by the artist, including The Spirit of the Rainbow, Rossetti's only full-length female nude (Lloyd Webber Collection; exh. Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters, Royal Academy, London, 2003, no. 16, illustrated in catalogue); and in her catalogue raisonné of Rossetti's work (1971), Virginia Surtees quotes Sir Sydney Cockerell as telling her that Watts-Dunton had once confided to him that the model for this was his mistress, and that he himself had commissioned Rossetti to make the drawing for him. The notion that our drawing (which is not in Mrs Surtees' catalogue) is also a likeness of Watts-Dunton's mistress seems to rest only on association with
The Spirit of the Rainbow; if she sat for one drawing, the assumption goes, she must have sat for the other. Furthermore, it is argued that since the Spirit is dated 1876, this must be approximately the date of our drawing too.
We find ourselves disagreeing with all these theories. We do not recognise the model as Fanny Cornforth, the subject of innumerable studies by Rossetti whose features are all too well known. Nor do we see any resemblance to The Spirit of the Rainbow, or indeed any compelling reason why the two drawings should represent the same model. In fact the head of the 'Spirit' is of a generalised character, conforming to Rossetti's later ideal, whereas the model for the present drawing, whoever she was, has a very pronounced and individual physiognomy.
As for the date, this is surely a drawing of the mid-to-late 1860s. We might compare, for example, a study of a young woman in the Birmingham Art Gallery (Surtees, no. 554, illustrated pl. 430), which is dated 1865. Possibly modelled by Fanny Cornforth for The Blue Bower (Barber Institute, Birmingham), this is admittedly a more highly finished performance than our drawing, but the handling of the forms is comparable, particularly the rendering of the hair. A closely related drawing, definitely of Fanny and for this picture, and again dated 1865, was sold at Christie's as part of the Newall Collection on 14 December 1979, lot 233 (fig. 2).
It is difficult to hazard a guess as to who the model for our drawing might really be. Many models were passing through Rossetti's studio in the 1860s, often young women of humble origin and easy virtue who were recommended by their good looks. There is a certain similarity with the profile in Joan of Arc (fig. 3), a painting of 1863 for which the model, according to William Michael Rossetti, was a German woman called Mrs Beyer. The full lips seem particularly comparable. On the other hand, an apparently independent study of this sitter that Rossetti made about the same time (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Surtees, no. 266, pl. 394) is not so reminiscent.
Another possibility is Aggie Manetti, a Scottish girl known for her 'Napoleonic' profile. We sold a study of her on 14 June this year (lot 15), but a better comparison here is a profile drawing at Birmingham (Surtees no. 262, pl. 396). In fact, Virginia Surtees suggests that Aggie might have been the model for Joan of Arc, and it is interesting to note that the model in our drawing wears a similar earring to one that features in Rossetti's studies of Aggie. However, whereas Aggie's hair was long, dark and fairly straight, that of the model in our drawing seems to be short, fair and wavy. And of course the earring may simply be a studio prop that Rossetti used indiscriminantely to adorn his models. It is well known that he had a large collection of such pieces.
The Spirit of the Rainbow is said to have been given by Rossetti to Watts-Dunton in return for his professional services in connection with the dissolution of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in 1875, and it may be that the present drawing was also a gift by way of thanks for services rendered. At 'The Pines', Watts-Dunton's still-extant house on Putney Hill, it must have been seen daily not only by its owner and his wife but by their permanent guest, Swinburne, who in 1879 was rescued by Watts-Dunton from alcoholism and carried off to live in abstinence under his suburban roof. Indeed, it is perhaps not too fanciful to imagine that such a striking image of haughty disdain held a more than passing interest for a poet who had so often celebrated the role of the dominatrix.
On Watts-Dunton's death in 1914 (five years after Swinburne's) the drawing was inherited by his widow, Clara, who gave it away in 1916. We do not know why, nor the identity of the recipient, 'A.H.', who left a record of the gift on the back. At all events, the drawing was spared the indignity of appearing in the sale of the contents of 'The Pines' that was held following Mrs Watts-Dunton's death in 1938. With war looming and the Pre-Raphaelites' reputation still in the doldrums, prices were at rock bottom. The Spirit of the Rainbow fetched a mere £10, and no Rossetti drawing went for more than £78, the price of an attractive Reverie modelled by Jane Morris.