The Day Dream

The Day Dream is one of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's late oil paintings and shows a young woman seated on a sycamore branch, her gaze fixed on something only she seems to perceive. It was commissioned in 1879 by Constantine Alexander Ionides, who paid 700 guineas and corresponded with the painter about how long the work would take. Rossetti finished it in March 1880 and left precise instructions on how it should be hung, including its height above the floor and the direction from which light should fall on it. Before settling on its final title, the picture was called Monna Primavera or Vanna Primavera, names probably drawn from Dante's Vita Nuova, a text of central importance to the artist. Rossetti was also a poet who often paired his paintings with sonnets, and the last sonnet in his Sonnets for Pictures series is linked to this work. The sitter is Jane Morris, with whom the painter had a romantic attachment that is hinted at through the symbolism. The honeysuckle she holds in her left hand was then a recognised emblem of love, and the book points to her fondness for reading. Unusually for Rossetti, the figure is shown full length, and her green silk dress merges with the leaves so that she seems to emerge from the tree like a dryad. The overall shadowiness and the bluish light glimpsed behind her shoulders suggest a hidden place, perhaps mirroring the secrecy of the relationship. Rossetti was not initially satisfied and made many revisions; he also apologised for having drawn the feet from another woman, while the hands in the final version came from a different model. The painting thus condenses the artist's fascination with reverie, literature and the symbolic language of nature.

Painter

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Date

1880

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

158 × 93 cm

Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Genre

genre art

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