“Lady Lilith”

Dante Gabriel
Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
1828 - 1882

- English poet, painter, translator

- Preferred mythological subjects
- Born Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti
- Obsessed with wombats
 Model: Jane Burden
- mistress of Rossetti, but married to William
Morris
- had a poor childhood and no
education, but was discovered by
Rossetti and asked to model
- was very intelligent and became
self-educated after her
engagement
 Origins of Lilith Story
“Lilith” in the Old Testament refers to a screech
owl or a demon.
The idea of Lilith as the first wife of Adam arose in
the Middle Ages
Support in Biblical Text: Genesis 1:27: "So God created man
in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them" – before the description of Eve’s creation in
Gen. 2:22

Story of Lilith became widely known in 17th century

with the publication of the Lexicon Talmudicon
Body’s Beauty
Sonnet LXXVIII, from The House of Life
OF Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told
(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,)
That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,
And her enchanted hair was the first gold.
And still she sits, young while the earth is old,
And, subtly of herself contemplative,
Draws men to watch the bright net she can weave,
Till heart and body and life are in its hold.

The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where

Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent
And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?
Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went
Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent,
And round his heart one strangling golden hair.
Harry Ransom Center Holding

Study for oil painting

Lilith, 1867
Colored chalk on paper.
28 x 24” (71.1 x 61cm).
 Another
Lilith

Lady Lilith, 1867

Watercolor and gouache on
paper;
20 3/16 X 17 5/16 in. (51.3 x
44 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1908 (08.162.1)
 The Final
Painting

Lady Lilith, 1868-1873

Oil on canvas
38 x 33 1/2 inches.
Delaware Art Museum,
Wilmington, Delaware
Significance
• Lilith represents the
“body’s beauty”
• Sensual woman painted
brushing her hair, not
wearing a corset
• Surrounded by flowers
• Conscious of her own
beauty and power to
control others
• Paradox: Lilith is both a
highly sexualized object
and an empowered woman
 Works Cited
The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Ed. By William M. Rossetti.
Ellis and Scrutton: London, 1886.

“The Beauty as Power in Rossetti’s Lady Lilith.”

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/dgr/paintings/may4.html

“The Paradox of Lady Lilith.”

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/dgr/paintings/4.html

Wikipedia contributors, "Jane Burden," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jane_Burden&oldid=40278234
(accessed February 28, 2006).