drawing
- Museum number
- 1910,1210.9
- Description
-
Orpheus and Eurydice from Virgil; enthroned above a dungeon representing Hades are Pluto, holding a staff, and the lamenting figure of Proserpine, below are Orpheus, holding a harp, glancing over his shoulder while leading Eurydice out of Hades, to right on steps, a creature with a female head and shoulders, claws and a tail. 1875
Graphite
- Production date
- 1828-1882
- Dimensions
-
Height: 607 millimetres
-
Width: 512 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Gere 1994
Pluto, the god of the Underworld, allowed Orpheus to restore his wife Eurydice to life on condition that he did not look back at her while conducting her out of Hades. The drawing shows the moment when Orpheus ignores the condition.
No corresponding painting is known, and in a letter to his friend Thomas Gordon Hake, dated 20 July 1875, Rossetti says: "I have struck about among fresh ideas before commencing some new picture, but commissions must be met, and to fit picture to price is not always quite easy. Meanwhile I now and then launch into a design irrespective of contingencies, and should like to show you one I am now making of Orpheus and Eurydice."
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1994-5 Sept-Jan, BM, Pre-Raphaelite Drawings, no.36
2003-4 Oct-Jan, Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 'Dante Gabriel Rossetti'
2004 Feb-June, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, 'Dante Gabriel Rossetti'
- Acquisition date
- 1910
- Acquisition notes
- Purchased by Col. Gillum at Rossetti's sale, Christie's 12.v.1883/180
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1910,1210.9
