The Blessed Damozel

In this painting, the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti illustrates one of his own poems, The Blessed Damozel. It's the only time that he used one of his own poems as the subject for a painting. The poem was first published in 1850 in a literary magazine, published by the Pre Raphaelites, known as The Germ. The picture follows the text of the poem very closely. In the large upper part of the painting we can see the Blessed Damozel in heaven waiting for her lover on earth, who's shown in the bottom section of the painting. Here's a verse from the poem; The Blessed Damozel leaned out from the gold bar of Heaven Her eyes were deeper than the depth of waters stilled at even She had 3 lilies in her hand and the stars in her hair were 7 The model for the Blessed Damozel was Alexa Wilding. Rossetti often used her as his model when he wanted to paint more spiritual figures because she was thought to have a pure or Classical beauty.