LA
BELLA MANO BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI
“Rossetti wrote a sonnet for La Bella Mano
after he finished the painting” (delart).
The title of the poem refers and
describes the lovely and delicate hands that can be observed in the Picture,
although we do not really know who they belong to, because Rossetti
does not mention it in the poem. The poet only refers to her as “The Lady
of Love” (verse 3), and the poet considers her as divine and beautiful as
Venus the Goddess “A flower of Venus’ own virginity” (verse
10).
“He
is inspired by Alexa Wilding to create this
figure” (geocities).
“From the late 1850s until
the mid-1860s his themes in both painting and poetry were drawn from Dante and
the Arthurian legends, but after that his work centred on the portrayal of an
indifferent idealized woman to whom he attributed qualities of mystic
sensibility and carnal sensuality”.
(delart).
In the painting, there are a lot
of details around the three women in order to better understand the situation, the
context of the poem, such as flowers, figures, jugs… All these elements
symbolize wealth, elegance and determine the importance of the central woman
represented. But at the same time, other elements finish with this harmonious
atmosphere:
“The flourishing lemon tree and cut flowers create a
contrast between life and incipient death”(delart).
Behind the women, we can observe a
picture or a mirror, because we do not really appreciate what there is inside
it. It can represent a drawing or a reflection of another place of the room
that the spectators cannot see.
. “The
mirror is a traditional sign of opposites. It reflects a “true”
duplicate of reality, “false” in its insubstantiality. Its
reflected image is tangibly outside the self but is also a potent signifier of
introspection”. (delart).
The colour of the picture gives a real
sensation because all seem to be of gold as is the silk clothing, the
adornments and basically, what refers to the principal woman, as the poet says
in the poem: “In royal wise ring-girt and bracelet-spann’d”
(verse 9) and “and endless fires sprang from the wave” (verse 4).
This aspect gives a peaceful and
delicate sensation to the public. For this, the poet uses words such as
“delicately” (verse 12), “soft” (verse 13) and
“sweet” (verse 11).
All of them have the lost look, as
if each one were inside her own thoughts, as if they were thinking about other
things.
“The visual centre is the woman’s face, pale and lost
in her response to something she sees or hears from beyond this exotic
room”. (delart).
It is probably that woman hears music or something similar because the
poet refers to this in the poem: “of music-measured speech” (verse
7).
I think the poet is
trying to reflect the Victorian society in this painting through the clothes
and the furniture that characterize this period. The poet also uses a lot of
details for giving more realism to the situation, to provoke the identification
between the spectator and people represented.
I think the poet speaks about the
elegant hand along the poem, but really he wants to praise all the features of
the woman standing out the superiority of her in contrast to the others,
probably maids “In maiden-minded” (verse 12).
It is very evident
that there are social differences among them. One maid is washing the
woman’s hands while she is waiting for this with the arms spread out
“O lovely hand, that thy sweet self dost
lave” (verse 1). And the
other maid is praying.
“The washing of the hands is a symbol of purity as is the
scallop shaped basin. The lemon tree and the iris are both
symbols of virginity” (geocities).
The poet alludes indirectly to this when he mentions in the second
verse: “In that thy pure and proper element” and in the tenth
verse: “A flower of Venus’ own virginity”.
In this case, the act of washing her hands refers to something more than
the obvious meaning. I think that it refers to washing the soul, the spirit of
bad thoughts or acts that exist in our life, that surround our existence, that
is to say, it is related to religion.
I think he is trying to show the beauty of the woman and then he
demonstrates his passion and his admiration towards her.
This woman could be a lost love of the author or someone who he loved a
lot.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
Dante
Gabriel Rossetti,
http://www.delart.org/damdocent/prbrossetti.html#top, visited
-
http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/7371/la_bella_mano.html,
visited
-
Dante
Gabriel Rossetti,
http://www.telecable.es/personales/deb1/Influencias/Dante%20Gabriel%20Rossetti.htm,
visited 24 February 2006.