Fair Annie; Illustration to a Ballad, about 1854

Fair Annie; Illustration to a Ballad, about 1854 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882). Ink and wash on paper.

This drawing consists of a series of interrelated compartments; at bottom, a girl sits upon a bed, the curtain of which is drawn back. A second girl, standing on the last step of a flight of stairs, embraces her. Above, a woman holding a child sits beside a staircase and peers through a hole in its panelling at a banqueting scene, lightly sketched. Between is a third compartment depicting a male figure gesturing from a four-poster bed in an empty room with arched doorway.

This drawing was inspired by the Border Ballads. It is an illustration for a book of ballads collected by Lord Allingham illustrated by Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal. This drawing illustrates the ballad ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annie’. It tells the story of two sisters, one wealthy one poor. The poor sister is the mistress of Lord Thomas, by whom she has had seven children, but he is engaged to marry the rich sister. After a long separation the two sisters meet – the rich one gives her dowry to the poor sister, who finally marries Lord Thomas and the situation is happily resolved.