Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(Source: Wikipedia)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, elder
brother of Christina Rossetti, was an English poet, illustrator, painter, and
translator. He is most known for being the founder of the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood (PRB) in 1848 along William Holman Hunt and John Everett. The main
purpose of the PRB was to create a more naturalistic style of art, throwing
away the rules and conventions learned at the academies. They were expected to
create works similar to that of Raphael because he was considered to have
achieved the highest perfection of art. Henceforth, PRB was born. Rossetti’s
art was characterized by its sensuality, which can be seen in his illustrations
for his sister’s poem “Goblin Market”.
Image 1
This illustration is used as the frontispiece of Christina Rossetti’s book “Goblin Market and other poems”. It depicts Laura who has given in to the temptation of the Goblins and goes to buy their fruits. Upon approach, Laura comes to the realization that she has no coin in her purse and is at a loss of what to do (lines 116-118). The Goblins, as cunning as they are, inform Laura that she can still get the fruit with a golden lock of her hair (line 123). In this image, Laura is seen with a pair of scissors cutting a lock of her golden tresses in payment for the Goblins fruit. The illustration is composed with six goblins who seem to have humanlike hands but their heads are that of various animals: a rat, an owl, a fish, a cockatoo, a dormouse, and a wombat. In the background of the illustration, another girl is seen walking up a hill, looking back at Laura as she falls into enticement. Some would assume that it’s Lizzie, Laura’s younger sister, but there holds no proof to this assumption. If it is Lizzie, however, then Dante has misinterpreted his sisters poem on two accounts: (1) the girl seems to have dark hair, not blonde and (2) this would mean that Lizzie looked back and watched as Laura gave herself to the Goblin men without helping her. As far as the poem goes, Lizzie has no prior knowledge of Laura’s wrong doing until Laura returns home that evening.
Image 2
This illustration is used as the title page for Christina Rossetti’s book “Goblin Market and other poems”. It occurs later on after Laura informs Lizzie that she had a taste of the Goblin men's fruits. She tells Lizzie that tomorrow she will buy more of the Goblins fruit. Having already succumb to the taste of the fruit, Laura has fallen into the trap set by the Goblins. Now she is to suffer the same fate as Jeanie, and pine away for the Goblins fruit for the rest of her days (lines 147-157). This image depicts Laura and Lizzie lying in bed, "Golden head by golden head, / Like two pigeons in one nest / Folded in each other's wings" (lines 184-186) as they sleep. The sisters are entwined and it isn’t possible to distinguish one sister from the next. They basically look identical, “Like two blossoms on one stem, / Like two flakes of new-fall’n snow” (lines 188-189). This image in particular contributes to the poems somewhat homosexual tendencies. The two sisters share an intimate and sensual embrace, with one sister’s dress seemingly falling off her shoulder to the point just above where her breast would be on display. The illustration also depicts a dream like quality expressed by the circle at the top left of the illustration, showing the Goblin men dancing down a hill. This could possibly be an insight into Laura’s dream, showing that all her thoughts, whether conscious or unconscious, have already been corrupted by the Goblins.
Dante Rossetti's illustrations for his sister's poem are different from most because of his depiction of Laura and Lizzie. Unlike other illustrations, in Dante's interpretation, the sisters look more masculine than described. Typically a young maiden would have soft gentle features and would seem a lot slimmer in stature. In these illustrations, Laura and Lizzie look more like older women and don't seem very young at all. They have broad jawlines, thick necks, and manly looking hands and faces.
