Dante Gabriel Rossetti
This exhibition was held at the Walker Art Gallery in 2003/4.
Wood engraving by Dalziel brothers after Rossetti's design, published 1855, 12.6 x 7.6cm, The British Library, London
Rossetti evokes the haunting mood of the poem through the contrast between dark and light and through the rhythmic movements of the maids. They stand like the three Fates, dominating the man.
In the book illustration, Rossetti made changes to his drawing to produce a more contemporary image in which real and supernatural worlds are more clearly separated.