Apple Blossom

Datec. 1878

Artist Frederic James Shields (English painter, illustrator, and designer, 1833–1911)

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

MediumGraphite, ink, watercolor, and gouache on buff laid paper

Dimensionssheet: 9 9/16 × 7 11/16 in. (24.3 × 19.5 cm)

Credit LineSamuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935

Object number1935-219

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsDRAWING

Label TextDuring the last years of Rossetti’s life, Frederic Shields assisted him in a broad range of tasks, in return for the use of his studio in Cheyne Walk. This detailed and closely observed drawing of apple blossoms was created by Shields as a visual aid for Rossetti’s A Vision of Fiammetta (now in the collection of Andrew Lloyd Webber). In the final painting the central figure is surrounded by apple blossoms, a reference to the sonnet by Boccaccio entitled “On his Last Sight of Fiammetta,” which inspired the composition. The sonnet begins,
Behold Fiammetta, shown in Vision here.
Gloom-girt ‘mid Spring-flushed apple-growth she stands…