1 / 1

download image
This image is in the public domain. You can copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. Learn more about our image policies.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Desdemona's Death-Song, 1878/1880

Not on View

Medium

black chalk over traces of red chalk on two joined sheets of blue-green paper

Dimensions

overall (frame size): 127 x 101.6 cm (50 x 40 in.)

Credit Line

New Century Fund and Paul Mellon Fund

Catalogue Raisonné

Surtees 1978, nos. 254B and Addenda 254?

Accession Number

2005.76.1

Artists / Makers

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (artist) British, 1828 - 1882

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

upper left in black chalk: Desdemona's / Death-Song; lower right in graphite: hanging sleeve more to side clear of dress 46 6/8 x 29 6/8

Provenance

(the artist's studio sale, Christie's London, 12 May 1883, no. 14); Charles Fairfax Murray (probably by 1893 but certainly by 1899); Sir Thomas Wardle (by 1904); (his sale, Leek, Staffordshire, May 1909); W. H. Rider; by descent to his wife; her nephew, J. T. Birch; by descent to his son, W. R. Birch; (sale, Sotheby's London, 20 November 1969, no. 191); (Leger); Robert S. Walker (by 1971); Sir Paul Getty; (his sale, Christie's London, 24th November 2004, no. 4); (Agnew's, London); purchased 2005 by NGA.

Associated Names

Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thomas
Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thomas
Birch, J.T.
Birch, W.R.
Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Getty, Paul, Sir
Leger Galleries Ltd., The
Murray, Charles Fairfax
Rider, W.H.
Sotheby's, London
Sotheby's, London
Walker, Robert S.
Wardle, Thomas, Sir

Exhibition History

1904: Exhibition of Fine Arts, Bradford Art Gallery, London, 1904, no cat.

1973: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Painter and Poet. The Royal Academy of Arts, London and City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham. London, 1973, 77, no. 346.

2006: The Artist's Vision: Romantic Traditions in Great Britain, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2006 - 2007, no cat.

2008: Medieval to Modern: Recent Acquisitions of Drawings, Prints, and Illustrated Books, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, no. 103.

Bibliography

1899: Marillier, H. C. Dante Gabriel Rossetti: An Illustrated Memorial of His Art and Life. London, 1899: 195-196, 255.

1910: Wood, T. Martin. The Drawings of D. G. Rossetti. London, c. 1910: 14 and pl. XXXVI.

1971: Surtees, Virginia. The Paintings and Drawings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti: A Catalogue Raisonné. London, 1971: 150 (no. 254B) and Addenda no. 254.

1980: Elzea, Rowland, ed. The Correspondence between Samuel Bancroft Jr. and Charles Fairfax Murray, 1892 - 1916. Delaware Art Museum Occasional Paper, no. 2. Wilmington, DE (February, 1980): 29.

2006: "Museum Acquisitions 2006: A Selection." Apollo Magazine (December 2006): 43.

2006: Sell, Stacey. "Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Desdemona's Death-Song." National Gallery of Art Bulletin, no. 34 (Spring 2006): 18-19.

2007: Walen, Denise A. "Unpinning Shakespeare." Shakespeare Quarterly 58 (2007): 507, fig. 7.