Borgia, 1851-1859

Borgia 1851–1859 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882). Watercolour.

This exquisite jewel-like watercolour entitled ‘Borgia’ is a rare example of the superb early work of a key artist in the Tullie House collections: Dante Gabriel Rossetti. After initially basing the subject on Shakespeare’s Richard III, Rossetti changed it to show the famous sixteenth century Italian Borgia family. The wicked Lucrezia Borgia plays a lute to which a boy and girl are dancing whilst Pope Alexander VI has his arm around her. Lucrezia’s brother Cesare smells a rose in her hair and beats in time to the music with a knife on a wineglass. An ape, a symbol of human vice, looks on.

Rossetti combines Lucrezia’s luxurious Renaissance costume with sumptuous colour to develop a sinister mood of sensuality and vice. Rossetti began producing vivid watercolours like this in the 1850s. They were inspired by medieval illuminated manuscripts which Rossetti saw in the personal collection of his patron, John Ruskin. Rossetti’s watercolour style and technique were innovatory and unconventional. He created the rich colours by applying pigments in an almost dry state. He also made changes by scratching, repainting, and even patching areas of colour. The frame was his own design too. Massive in scale, it has medieval rosettes in the corners - references to the Wars of the Roses in which Richard III had fought. Rossetti was a central figure of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Born in London of Italian decent, he was a scholar, poet and artist. As one of the most original and controversial of the Pre-Raphaelite artists, he had a major influence on the development of late nineteenth century art, despite rarely exhibiting his work. His Borgia explores important ideas in Pre-Raphaelite art concerning love and morality.