International studio (35.1908)

The Scrip

Burlington, says of it: “It would, indeed, be dif-
ficult to imagine a more radiant example of Ros-
setti’s art in that medium.” The same writer has
noted the correspondence of the colors used with
Rossetti’s preferences in color as he has recorded
them in his notes. “Thinking in what order I
love colors,” he wrote, “found the following: (i)
Pure light, warm green, (2) deep gold color, (3)
certain tints of gray, (4) shadowy or steel blue, (5)
brown with crimson tinge, (6) scarlet, other colors
(comparatively) only lovable according to the rela-
tions in which they are placed.” This is as nearly
as possible the color scheme of the Lilith. The
lady sits in a low chair, holding a mirror in her left
hand, and a comb in her right hand. She is comb-
ing out her glorious red-gold hair which falls rip-
pling over her neck, and is spread out by the comb
into a light, shimmering veil. Her white gown has
grayish tones and shadows, her mantle which lies
over the chair arm is lined with white fur. Her
eyes are blue, and there is a little design in blue on
the mirror-back. Behind her head are rich sprays
of grayish white roses with pink buds; a coral
bracelet is on her wrist; the tassels of the mirror
cord are something between scarlet and crimson,
a scarlet poppy is in a glass by her side, and a spray
of crimson and violet foxgloves lies on the table
under the little window, through which is seen the
tender green foliage of springtime.
The drawing is flexible and ample, with large,
gracious lines and no empty spaces or “holes”
through which interest in the composition may
escape. In these particulars the water color is a
replica of the oil picture painted three years before,
although we may note in passing that the chaplet
of flowers lying on the lady’s lap in the earlier pic-
ture is omitted in the replica. The principal dif-
ference from a technical point of view—setting
aside the inevitable differences between the two
mediums—lies in the general tone of the color, which
in the oil picture has a kind of muffled splendor, a
dusky brilliancy, that gives place in the water color
to a slight garishness such as we see in oil colors
that have been too much and unskilfully cleaned—•
a quality that, so far as my knowledge extends,
Rossetti never produced in his oil pictures.
Fromentin somewhere describes one of the van
Eycks at Bruges as giving the impression of having
a golden foundation under the deep color harmony.
This is precisely the impression made by the oil
painting of the Lilith, which is now in Mr. Samuel
Bancroft’s collection at Wilmington, Delaware.
The various colors which in themselves are suf-
ficiently intense unite in this soft, rich yet grave

tone that never rises to vulgar brightness or sinks to
lifeless dark. It is interesting to recall in this con-
nection a little study in the same collection of a
head—probably that of Ruth Herbert—in which
Rossetti by way of experiment mixed gold powder
with gum on his palette, using it as color on water-
color paper and deepening the shadows with umber,
leaving the high lights bare paper, slightly redden-
ing the lips and painting the eyes blue. The re-
sult is extremely delicate and warm, with a subtle
glow entirely different from any to be obtained
from pigment used in the ordinary manner.
Mr. Ross quotes the statement of a connoisseur
of his acquaintance to the effect that Rossetti him-
self considered the Coltart water color “unmeas-
urably superior ” to the oil color, and adds the com-
ment that this would seem to be borne out by
Rossetti’s partial repainting of the latter in 1872 or
thereabout. It may fairly be inferred that Mr.
Ross himself has not seen the repainted oil picture,
as he says that it was “entirely spoiled” by the
alterations. It is not a matter for much wonder if
Rossetti did express his conviction that his water
color was superior to the earlier oil, as nearly all
artists are prone to the harmless weakness of con-
sidering their latest work the best; and the guileless
public is equally prone to take such opinion ser-
iously, but it is difficult to understand how any
dispassionate observer familiar with the superb
oil color of The Lady Lilith can subscribe to the
statement that it was “ruined” or “entirely
spoiled” by the changes that were made in it. I
have no knowledge of the picture in its original
form, and cannot, therefore, hold any opinion as
to the quality of the original painting. I have seen,
however, the reproduction of the picture as it was
in 1864 which is published in Mr. Marillier’s book
on Rossetti, and can conceive that it was a very
handsome and no doubt veracious portrait of the
beautiful model, Fanny Schott (then Fanny Corn-
forth). But it also gives strongly the impression
that in the repainting the alterations were from a
psychological point of view an improvement rather
than the opposite. A connoisseur who has had
every opportunity to become acquainted with the
circumstances tells me that they sprang from Ros-
setti’s conviction that his model represented “not
Lilith or Lilith’s daughter, but a true daughter of
Eve.” A different model was used for the re-
painting, and the physiognomy, formerly that of a
a woman of opulent blonde beauty and frank ex-
pression, took on the serpentine suggestions appro-
priate to the subject. The lips became fuller, the
long line from ear to chin upon which Rossetti

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