Monna Vanna

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Monna Vanna, 1866 (Tate Gallery, London) is one of the most iconic Pre-Raphaelite images. Its celebrity was further cemented in its usage as the cover image for the pivotal 1984 exhibition at the Tate: The Pre-Raphaelites. The present lot is a close copy of Rossetti’s original work, and whilst the true author of the work has not been identified, the copyist was clearly an accomplished artist. This work has been historically categorised as 'School of Rossetti', indicating that its creation was most likely contemporary with the artist’s life. More specifically, it is likely to date from the turn-of-the-century, when the Decadent movement popularised an opulent aesthetic. Monna Vanna was modelled on Alexa Wilding, and is one of a series of very sensuous and decorative portraits of beautiful women executed by Rossetti in the mid-1860s. The title translates as ‘Vain Woman’ and derives from a character in La Vita Nuova penned by his namesake Dante Alighieri. Rossetti translated La Vita Nuova into English in October 1848, and the text was of great personal significance to him. The artist stated that he intended his painting to embody: 'the Venetian ideal of female beauty'.