The Day Dream

During 1878 Rossetti completed a chalk sketch of Morris, his secret lover, whom he had met at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1857. She was the model for several of his well-known paintings, including Proserpine. The drawing was displayed above the mantelpiece in Rossetti's studio. Initially the painting was to be called Monna Primavera,or Vanna Primavera, possibly inspired by La Vita Nuova, a narrative that captivated Rossetti and was the basis for earlier pieces of his works of art. Rossetti was also a poet and penned sonnets to accompany several of his paintings;the last composition in his series entitled Sonnets for Pictures is associated with this painting.The sonnet reads: The thronged boughs of the shadowy sycamore Still bear young leaflets half the summer through; From when the robin 'gainst the unhidden blue Perched dark, till now, deep in the leafy core, The embowered throstle's urgent wood-notes soar Through summer silence. Still the leaves come new; Yet never rosy-sheathed as those which drew Their spiral tongues from spring-buds heretofore. 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. Rossetti had not initially been fully satisfied with the painting and he made several revisions to it.He wrote to Morris apologizing for copying the feet of another woman to the picture. An earlier painting of Morris, entitled The Salutation of Beatrice, had similarly used a different model's hands in the final version.