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Proserpine
Dante Gabriel Rossetti · Symbolism & Art Nouveau
- Artist
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
- Date
- 1874
- Dimensions
- 125.1 x 61 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom
Proserpine depicts the Roman goddess carried off by Pluto to rule the underworld. Having eaten a few seeds of a pomegranate there, she was condemned to return to his dark kingdom for part of every year.
A closer look
The goddess walks along a shadowy corridor of her palace, holding the bitten pomegranate, the fruit that seals her fate. A brief square of daylight from the world above falls on the wall behind her. Her heavy, dark-green robe, full lips and melancholy gaze make her one of Rossetti’s most memorable women. An incense burner and a climbing ivy, symbol of clinging memory, complete the mood of longing. Rossetti wrote a sonnet for the painting, inscribed in Italian on the canvas and in English on the frame.
More by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
In this gallery
Famous works elsewhere
- Ecce Ancilla Domini 1850
- Dante's Dream 1871
- Bocca Baciata 1859
- Lady Lilith 1866
- The Beloved 1865
- The Girlhood of Mary Virgin 1848