Portrait of Jane Morris

This fascinating image depicts Jane Burden Morris, wife of William Morris and artistic muse and lover of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, when she was about twenty-six years old. One of a series of photographs taken in July 1865, it resulted from a collaboration between Rossetti and the professional photographer, John R. Parsons. The majority of these images were made in the garden of Rossetti's home in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, in London.

Twenty-seven prints from this shoot are preserved in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. They give a sense not only of the range of poses and moods Rossetti tried to capture but also the inspiration these photographs must have provided for his work in other media. In the AMAM photograph, Jane stands with her head and upper body slightly twisted to her left and her hands clasped in front of her. Her remarkable eyes, thick brows, tight curly hair, and expressive hands provide the focal point of this captivating portrait.

Rossetti, Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, and other artists of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood first met Jane Burden in 1857 in Oxford, where they were painting murals in the debating chamber of the newly built Union. At the time, Rossetti was engaged to artist's model Lizzie Siddal, and it was William Morris who married Jane in 1859. When Lizzie overdosed on laudanum in 1862, the widowed Rossetti looked to Jane for new inspiration. From the 1860s almost until Rossetti's death in 1882, Jane sat for drawings and sketches that became the basis for a formal portrait and various imaginative compositions.