“The Day Dream” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

“The Day Dream” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti was initially intended to be named Monna Primavera and depicts his lover and muse Jane Morris posed in a seated position on the bough of a sycamore tree.

She holds a small stem of honeysuckle in her hand, a token of love in the Victorian era. It symbolized the secret affair Rossetti was immersed in with Jane Morris at the time. She was the model for several of Rossetti’s well-known paintings.

This painting is one of Rossetti’s last and one of his few full-length depictions during this time of his career. The painting is signed “D. Rossetti 1880” on the lower right.

The scene is a representation of a woman in a green silk dress, shaded by the canopy of the sycamore tree’s leaves. All around her, the tree branches are depicted as if they want to embrace her.

Rossetti portrayed her clad all in green, her dress is a loose silk robe, flowing in folds and blending in with the tree’s leaves.

She is immersed in her daydreams, turning her gaze towards something unseen or perceived by her.

Rossetti made several revisions to the painting to meet his exacting expectations, including copying the feet of another woman to the picture.

The depiction of the woman in her shelter surrounded by the branches adds to the mystery of the painting, symbolizing the secrecy of their affair.

"The Day Dream" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Chalk sketch of “The Day Dream” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti- Ashmolean Museum in Oxford

Rossetti completed a chalk sketch of Morris a few years earlier in 1878. Initially, the painting was to be called Monna Primavera, or Vanna Primavera, inspired by La Vita Nuova, a narrative that captivated Rossetti.

Rossetti penned sonnets to accompany several of his paintings. His last poem in his series entitled “Sonnets for Pictures” is associated with this painting.

Within the branching shade of Reverie
Dreams even may spring till autumn; yet none be
Like woman’s budding day-dream spirit-fann’d.
Lo! tow’rd deep skies, not deeper than her look,
She dreams; till now on her forgotten book
Drops the forgotten blossom from her hand.

Jane Morris

Jane Morris (1839 – 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts & Crafts Movement and artists’ model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty.

She was a model and muse to her husband William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Jane married William Morris in 1859. In 1871, William Morris and Rossetti took out a joint tenancy on the rural retreat of Kelmscott Manor. William Morris went to Iceland, leaving his wife and Rossetti to furnish the house and spend the summer there.

Jane Morris had become closely attached to Rossetti and became a favorite muse of his. Their romantic relationship had started in 1865 and lasted, on differing levels, until he died in 1882.

They shared a deep emotional connection, and she inspired Rossetti to write poetry and create some of his best paintings.

"The Day Dream" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Jane Morris (née Jane Burden; 1839–1914), photographed in 1865, posed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

William Morris

William Morris (1834 – 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement.

Visits to Iceland greatly influenced him, and he produced a series of English-language translations of Icelandic Sagas.

Morris is recognized as one of the most significant cultural figures of Victorian Britain. He was best known in his lifetime as a poet, although he posthumously became better known for his designs.