Woven songs and musical mirrors: Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'symbolic physiognomy' of music

Abstract

The long-held assumption that Dante Gabriel Rossetti lacked interest in music has been convincingly challenged by recent studies, and yet there still seems to be a kernel of truth to it when pondering the apparently hap-hazard use of musical instruments in his pictures. ... This article proposes an explanation for the often strange form or presentation of several string instruments found in Rossetti's visual art. The aim is not to attempt a comprehensive lexicon-style account of his use of music as a symbolic device within his oeuvre, even if such a goal were tenable. Instead, the focus is very much on trying to posit an explanation for the use of instruments - especially the unusual or bizarre - in some selected examples. The reason for the focus on strange instruments is that they provide insight into the rationale behind his choice and manipulation of musical objects as pictorial, expressive and symbolic elements within his image overall. Put another way, and without wanting to sound unnecessarily enigmatic, the focus of this article is on the physical form of unrealistic or even non-existent instruments.