Sister Helen

Datec. 1870

Artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (British Pre-Raphaelite painter, 1828–1882)

MediumGraphite and brown ink on paper mounted on board

Dimensionssheet: 8 5/16 × 6 9/16 in. (21.1 × 16.7 cm)
support: 10 15/16 × 9 5/16 in. (27.8 × 23.7 cm)
frame: 22 5/8 × 18 5/8 in. (57.5 × 47.3 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mark Samuels Lasner, 2002

Object number2002-5

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsDRAWING

Label TextThis unfinished drawing relates to a poem of the same title that Rossetti began working on in late 1851. Described by Rossetti as “a ghastly ballad,” the poem tells the story of the gruesome acts of the title character who, forsaken in love, maliciously chooses to melt her lover in waxen effigy and thereby cause his death. The “femme-fatale” subject matter looks forward to later work such as Lady Lilith.