Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Toast to Love

Coupled with its theme of love, Rossetti’s ‘The Loving Cup’ exemplifies the best of Pre-Raphaelite art.

A detail of "The Loving Cup," 1867, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Public Domain

The Pre-Raphaelites created some of the most romantic, decorative, and symbolic artworks in British art history. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) was one of the movement’s founders. Both a painter and a poet, Rossetti’s art was inspired by literature, with sources including Shakespeare, the Bible, and mythology, as well as medieval, Renaissance, and romantic poetry. Often accompanying his paintings are his own verses or poems by other writers.

Famous for depictions of beautiful women, Rossetti used the same models repeatedly in his works. “The Loving Cup,” an oil on panel, and its watercolor copies are representative of Rossetti’s aesthetic.

Rossetti’s Muses

A self-portrait of the artist, 1861, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Pencil on paper; 11 1/5 inches by 9 inches. Birmingham Museums Trust. Public Domain

Rossetti was born in London to intellectual parents of Italian origin. Growing up, he was exposed to historic and contemporary literature that influenced his poetic pursuits as well as his visual art. Rossetti displayed artistic talent in his youth and studied at the Royal Academy Schools, but he chafed at academic conventions, which he found stifled his creativity. In 1848, along with friends William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, he formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They were fueled by their admiration of Early Renaissance painting, with its rich details, complex symbolism, and emotion.

In the 1860s, Rossetti’s art became lusher. These decorative pictures feature idealized female figures and elaborate iconography. Muses of the decade include his wife Elizabeth Siddal, Jane Morris, who was the spouse of William Morris, and Alexa Wilding.

"Monna Vanna," 1866, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Oil on canvas; 35 inches by 24 inches. Tate Britain, London. PD-US

Wilding, with whom he worked into the 1870s, was a professional model and the muse for some of Rossetti’s most famous paintings. Unlike other Rossetti models, she had only a platonic relationship with the artist. Her image was used in works like the 1866 “Monna Vanna,” now at the Tate. This ravishing picture shows a beautiful woman adorned with pearls and coral, gemstones that appear frequently in Rossetti’s portrayals of women.

‘To the Well-Loved Knight’

Wilding was also the model for Rossetti’s 1867 oil on panel “The Loving Cup,” part of the collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Rossetti shows a beautiful woman in three-quarters length. Striking reds dominate the composition, from the woman’s auburn hair to her red dress and coral beaded necklace. The warm tone is accompanied by whites and silvers: the blouse with frilly cuffs, the seed-pearls at her wrist and around her neck, the jeweled hair ornament, and the background’s linen cloth with a Veneto-Byzantine lacework pattern that covers a piece of furniture.

"The Loving Cup," 1867, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Oil on panel; 26 inches by 18 inches. National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Public Domain

In the painting, a woman raises a golden vessel with heart-shaped designs. It is known as a loving cup, from which lovers would both drink. With a dream-like expression, the figure stares into a space behind the viewer’s left shoulder, seemingly offering a toast to her beloved. The cup’s material is echoed by the chain around her waist and the four bronze or brass plates on a ledge in the background’s uppermost register.

Two plates are decorated with animals while the second and fourth depict biblical scenes: Hosea and Joshua returning from the promised land with a bunch of grapes (Numbers 13:17-29) and Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. The ivy, with heart-shaped leaves, symbolizes fidelity and eternity. Its green color is reiterated by the textile wound around the woman’s upper body and over her head, completing the painting’s harmonious tones.

This scene is of Rossetti’s own invention, without a specific date or location, although it is reminiscent of the 14th century. The painting’s frame is inscribed, “Douce nuit et joyeux jour/A chevalier de bel amour” (“Sweet night and happy days/To the well-loved knight”). The source for these lines is unknown, but perhaps Rossetti wrote the Arthurian-like verse himself.

"The Loving Cup," 1867, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Watercolor; 21 inches by 14 1/5 inches. Private collection. Public Domain

Rossetti made at least three, maybe four, watercolors of the same chivalric theme shortly after the oil, but he used a different model, Ellen Smith, in the replicas. Smith was also depicted in the 1867 Manchester Art Gallery panel “Joli Coeur,” in which she wears some of the same jewels as Wilding in “Monna Vanna.” Rossetti’s reason for changing model is unknown, though it is believed that he used assistants on the watercolors.

“The Loving Cup” is a beautiful painting from Rossetti’s maturity. It harkens back to medieval art while remaining decidedly of the Victorian era. The painting’s flattened perspective and richly decorative use of color, pattern, and texture, coupled with its theme of love, exemplifies the best of Pre-Raphaelite art.

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