Bentley, D. M. R.

English

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Light, Architecture, and Awe in Rossetti 's Ear ly Annunciations D. M . R. B E N T L E Y H E N Dante Gabr ie l Rossett i came to paint "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! " i n the winter of 1849-50 he " " brought w i th h i m a conception of the Annunc ia t ion in wh i ch three elements — light, architecture, and awe — play an important, indeed crucia l , part. A l though several writers, most notably Rossetti 's fellow Pre-Raphael i te F . G. Stephens, have drawn attention to the presence of these elements i n "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! , " for the i r function to be ful ly understood a l l three need to be seen as a gestált wh ich the art ist used to body forth the profound Mystery of the Incarnation. In the fol lowing pages an attempt w i l l be made to show how the three components of what might be called Rossetti 's Annunc ia t i on gestált can be seen to exist and function, not only i n "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! " but also i n a number of the poet-painter's earl ier M a r i a n works, par-t i cu lar l y i n his sonnet on " A n Annunc ia t ion , E a r l y Ger-m a n . " Sometime i n 1847 Rossett i saw an " E a r l y G e r m a n " paint-ing of the Annunc ia t i on at an auction room i n London. 1 Standing i n front of the painting, or perhaps recollecting i t i n t ranqui l i ty afterwards, he composed the fol lowing son-net: The l i l ies stand before her l ike a screen Through which, upon this w a r m and solemn day, God surely hears. F o r there she kneels to pray Who wafts our prayers to God — M a r y the Queen She was Fa i th ' s Present, par t ing what had been F r o m what began w i th her, and is for aye. On either hand, God's twofold system lay : W i t h meek bowed face a V i r g i n prayed between. So prays she, and the Dove flies i n to her, A n d she has turned. A t the low porch is one Ecce Ancilla Domini! R O S S E T T I ' S E A R L Y A N N U N C I A T I O N S 23 Who looks as though deep awe made h i m to smile. Heavy w i th heat, the plants y ie ld shadow there; The loud flies cross each other i n the sun; A n d the aisled p i l l a rs meet the poplar-aisle. 2 Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing wh ich part icular paint ing inspired this sonnet. B u t f rom Rossetti 's impres-sions of i t we may speculate that i t was a minor work of the school — a mid-f i f teenth century off-shoot of E a r l y Nether landish pa int ing — wh i ch produced such master-pieces as Roger van der Weyden's famous "Annunc i a t i on , " now i n the Metropol i tan Museum of A r t , and the same artist 's St. Co lumba Al tarp iece f rom Cologne. Cer ta in ly Rossetti 's mention of " l i l i e s , " of the "Dove [f lying] i n t o " the V i r g i n , and of the var ious archi tectura l features of the paint ing (the " screen" of l i l ies, the " low porch , " and the "ais led p i l lars" ) are typ ica l of What, w i t h some licence, he calls " E a r l y G e r m a n " depictions of the Annunc ia t ion . It is interesting to notice the knowledge of the M a r i a n t rad i t ion wh i ch Rossett i brought to the " E a r l y G e r m a n " Annunc ia t i on i n 1847. N o t only is " M a r y the Queen" " Fa i th ' s Present, " but she is also the Med ia t r i x "who wafts our prayers up to G o d . " In addit ion Chr is t ' s mother has a special place i n the D iv ine scheme. " P a r t i n g what had been / F r o m what began w i t h h e r " she stands i n history as a part i t ion between two dispensations of t ime ("God's twofold system") : the L a w (which her pur i f icat ion ended) and the Grace (to wh i ch her womb gave b i r th ) . There is perhaps even a touch of sacred drôlerie, certainly of fanci-fulness, i n Rossetti 's description of the " loud f l ies" which, i n ant ic ipat ion of the cruc i f ix ion, "cross each other i n the s u n " (i.e. f o rm a cross). Wha t is most important to notice here, however, is the emphasis placed in the sonnet, not only on the archi tectura l structures wh i ch surround the V i r g i n i n the " E a r l y G e r m a n " painting, but also on the numinous l ight and heat wh i ch suffuses her at the A n n u n -ciation. The day itself is not just "so lemn," but w a r m ; and so radiant is the sunlight that the atmosphere is "heavy w i th heat " and the "plants y ie ld shadow there. " We should 24 D. M . R. B E N T L E Y notice, too, the "deep awe" wh i ch causes the figure at the " low po r ch " — perhaps the announcing angel — to " sm i l e " w i th joy at the moment he is sharing. Besides being an appreciation of " A n Annunc ia t ion , E a r l y G e r m a n " and a competent poem i n its own r ight, th is sonnet contains the three elements — l ight, architecture, and "awe " — which , together w i th the l i l y and the Dove (the H o l y Ghost ) , are the most important features of "Ecce Anc i l l a D o m i n i ! " begun over two years later. It was on November 25, 1849 that Rossett i began to translate his conception of the moment of the Annunc ia t i on into p ic tor ia l terms. 3 A f t e r the clutter of emblematic adjuncts wh ich Rossett i had used to expound his theme in the "G i r lhood of M a r y V i r g i n , " painted only a year earl ier, i t is something of a rel ief to discover how s imply the Annunc ia t i on is depicted i n "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! " Less than hal f a dozen emblems have been brought over f rom the earl ier paint ing. The i r collective significance i n their new context is — borrowing a phrase f rom the second of the " G i r l h o o d " sonnets — "to teach / That C h r i s t " (Works, p. 173) has at last come to Mary . A t the r ight fore-front of the picture space is the only obtrusively "prominent accessory" 4 i n the pa int ing : the young V i r g in ' s embroidered l i l y which, now completed, echoes the t r iad ic 5 l i l y stem which Gabr ie l seems to be presenting to the expectant mother of Chr is t . It may be observed that the middle l i l y on the stem held by the archangel is a bud about to burst open, about to come into being, l ike Chr is t , at the moment of the Incarnation. Between Gabr ie l and the Blessed V i r g i n is a haloed dove, the " H o l y One, " who no longer "abides w i thout " (Works, p. 173) as i n the "G i r lhood of M a r y V i r g i n , " but has now entered the room and, l ike the one i n the "Annunc ia t i on , E a r l y Ge rman , " "f l ies i n to her . " Through the open window at the rear of "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! " a single tree is visible. It matters l i t t le whether this tree is a palm, as W i l l i a m Sharp asserts, 6 or, as seems more l ike ly , a plane or a cedar, for the al lusion i n any case R O S S E T T T S E A R L Y A N N U N C I A T I O N S 25 is to the apocryphal Ecclesiasticus, 24.3, 12-14, a text fre-quently associated w i th the V i r g i n : "I was exalted l ike a cedar i n L ibanus and as a cypress tree on the mountains of Hermon. I was exalted l ike a pa lm tree on the seashore . . . and as a fa i r olive tree on the p la in ; and I was exalted as a plane tree." Accord ing to F . G. Stephens, Rossett i placed a l ighted lamp on the wal l behind Mary ' s head i n order that we might "suppose that the V i r g i n was aroused f rom sleep, i f not f rom prayer, when the gentlest of arch-angels appeared [and] the l ight of Heaven f i l led the room. . . ." 7 Ev ident ly , the l ighted lamp in "Ecce Anc i l l a D o m i n i ! " functions on two levels. It is both an emblem of Mary ' s piety and fa i th (she is, i n Rossetti 's words, " F a i t h ' s Present" ) and an indicat ion of the t ime of day (early morn-ing) at wh i ch the Annunc ia t i on is occurr ing. A l though the cumulative significance of the various attributes and emblems i n the picture serve as an adequate and explicit gloss on what is t ak ing place, the c rux of any interpretation of "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! " must be to explain its implicit symbol ism. B y comparison w i th the overt symbol ism of " G i r l h o o d " the subtlety w i th wh i ch the art ist employs l ight, architecture, and fac ia l expression ("awe") to depict the Myste ry of the Incarnat ion i n " E c c e " attests to the extent of his intel lectual development i n the period between the execution of the two pictures. Undoubtedly, the numerous religious paintings wh i ch Rossett i saw i n the art-galleries and churches of Par i s and Be lg ium in the autumn of 1849 made a signif icant contr ibut ion to this development. W i l l i a m Ho lman H u n t would later recal l that "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! " was painted i n the " f lush of re turn ing f rom France and B e l g i u m " 8 i n November, 1849. A close analysis of the paint ing i n terms of the Annunc ia t i on gestalt of l ight, arch i -tecture, and awe w i l l reveal the t ru th of H . C. Mar i l l i e r ' s contention that Rossett i strove to "put a l l his thoughts and a l l h is knowledge into i t . " 9 W i l l i a m Michae l Rossetti 's observation that his brother's f i rst sketch for "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! " depict ing the V i r g i n 26 D. M . R. B E N T L E Y "wi thout any bedclothes on , " " m a y be justi f ied in considera-t ion of the hot c l imate , " 1 0 whi le true at a l i tera l level, completely misses the cruc ia l significance of heat and l ight in the picture, a signif icance wh i ch Rossett i sought to embody i n its dominant colour: white. F . G. Stephens' brief but perceptive description of " E c c e " may serve as a convenient start ing point for our speculations as to the meaning of the whiteness of Rossetti 's "wh i te p i c ture . " 1 1 " I n a chamber whose pure white sides and floor exhib i t an intensity of soft morn ing l i ght , " Stephens writes, " the couch of Mary , itself almost ent ire ly white, is placed close to the wa l l where dawn would str ike its earliest rays, and w i th its head towards the w indow. " 1 2 Several other cr i t ics besides Stephens have called attention to the morn ing l ight wh ich floods every corner of the V i r g in ' s chamber i n " E c c e " and causes Gabr ie l " to y ie ld shadow" across the couch of the myst ica l spouse. W i l l i a m Sharp refers to the " ful f i l led d a w n " 1 3 of the paint ing and H . C. Mar i l l i e r observes that " through the open window the . . . br ight sun . . . [streams] into the r o o m . " 1 4 To enable the morn ing l ight to enter the chamber the blue arras behind the V i r g in ' s head has been pulled completely away f rom the window. There can be no doubt whatsoever that Rossett i arranged the furni ture — the arras and the couch — w i th in the V i rg in ' s chamber in " E c c e " w i th one end i n m i n d : to signify that at the moment of the Incarnat ion Chr is t ' s mother was suffused w i th the radiant l i ght of the morn ing sun. Indeed, the f i rst of the 1848 sonnets on the "G i r lhood of M a r y V i r g i n " out-lines precisely the t ime and place of the Annunc ia t i on : . . . one dawn at home She woke in her white bed, and had no fear A t al l ,—yet wept t i l l sunshine, and felt awed: Because the fulness of the t ime was come. (Works, p. 173) Signi f icantly, i n " A v e , " Rossetti 's most extended treatment in poetry of the V i r g in ' s life, he l ikens her awareness of her destiny to the " b i r t h of l i gh t " (Works, p. 167). F . G. Stephens' remark, quoted a few moments ago, that i t is the R O S S E T T I ' S E A R L Y A N N U N C I A T I O N S 27 " l i ght of Heaven" wh i ch suffuses M a r y on the morn ing of the Annunciat ion should suggest that there is more to the l ight of this " d a w n " than l i tera l ly "meets the eye." To understand the symbol ic signif icance of Rossetti 's Annunciat ion " sunsh ine " and, indeed, to expla in the posi-t ion of the blue arras and the presence of the "whi te bed" in the V i rg in ' s chamber in "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! " we must refer brief ly to a Chr i s t i an t rad i t ion that goes back at least to the beginning of the twel f th century. Th i s is the t rad i -t ion, traceable to Ivo of Chartres, that l i nks the not ion of Chr i s t as the Br idegroom of the C h u r c h (Ephesians 5,22-32) w i th the image of the sun as a "br idegroom coming out of his chamber" (Psa lm 19, 4-6) to create the magnif icently mixed metaphor of the Bridegroom-sun-Son and, i n terms of the Annunciat ion, the figure of the V i r g i n as the br ida l chamber of the sun-Son. It may be observed that Rossett i makes frequent use of the Bridegroom-sun-Son nexus both in his poetry and in his paint ing. The occurrence of the rather awkward compound "Godsh ine " (Works, p. 662) i n the early (c. 1847) "Ma t e r Pulchrae Delect ionis " suggests that the sun-Son metaphor may be impl ic i t i n the " s u n " (where the " l oud flies cross each other" ) i n the sonnet for " A n Annunciat ion, E a r l y G e r m a n " and in the " sunsh ine " of the f irst " G i r l h o o d " sonnet. Metaphors (or puns) may be translated most readi ly into p ic tor ia l terms by super-imposing one figure upon another. Th is technique is used by Rossetti to express the sun-Son metaphor in "Dant i s A m o r " (1861), where Chr is t ' s head is superimposed upon the sun at the top-left of the design, and i n " M a r y Magda-lene at the Door of S imon the Phar i see " (1858), where Chr is t ' s head is surrounded by a sun-l ike aureole. More-over, Chr is t is described s imply as the "B r ideg room" (Works p. 214) i n Rossetti 's sonnet to " M a r y Magdalene." Whether or not Rossett i was aware of the scr ip tura l deriva-t ion of the Bridegroom-sun-Son metaphor, i t is clear that he had a thorough grasp of its art is t ic application. A n d it is equally clear that the metaphorical conceptions of Chr is t 30 D. M . R. B E N T L E Y 3See, W i l l i a m Michae l Rossetti , Praeraphaelite Diaries and Letters (London: Hurs t & Blackett , 1900), p. 235. Hereafter cited as PRDL. ^Wi l l i am Michae l Rossetti , "Notes on Rossett i and H i s Works , " Art Journal, 46 (1884), 151. 5 Cf . the "Threefo ld P l a n t " i n the ear ly (c. 1847) "Ma t e r Pulchrae Delect ionis" (Worfcs, pp. 661-62) of wh ich the V i r g i n is " the most greenly jub i l an t " leaf. The suggestion is that for Rossett i the three-flowered l i l y stem was a type of the Tr in i t y . 6See, Dante Gabriel Rossetti: A Record and a Study (London: Macmi l l an , 1882), p. 134. 1Dante Gabriel Rossetti (London, 1894), p. 56. sPre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (London: Macmi l l an , 1905), I, 193. 9Dante Gabriel Rossetti: An Illustrated Memorial of His Life and Art (Rev. ed. London : G. Be l l , 1904), p. 21. ™PRDL, p. 235. ^Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, eds. Oswald Doughty and J . R. W a h l (London: Oxford Univ . Press, 1965), I, 122 and 124. 12Dante Gabriel Rossetti, p. 56. 13Dante Gabriel Rossetti: A Record and a Study, p. 134. 14Dante Gabriel Rossetti: An Illustrated Memorial . . ., p. 26. 1 5 C i t e d i n V i r g i n i a Surtees, The Paintings and Drawings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882): A Catalogue Raisonné (London: Oxford Univ . Press, 1971), No. 44 ("Ecce A n c i l l a Dom in i ! " ) . 1 6 M a u d Bodk in Archetypal Patterns in Poetry: Psychological Studies in Imagination (London: Oxford Univ . Press, 1962), p. 229. "Ecce A n c i l l a D o m i n i ! " is reproduced w i th permission of The Tate Gal lery , London. 

Light, Architecture, and Awe in Rossetti's Early Annunciations

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Light, Architecture, and Awe in Rossetti's Early Annunciations

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