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The Music Master

1855
Not on view
Rossetti’s first published illustration was made for this volume to accompany the poem The Maids of Elfin-mere. Characteristically, the image focuses on a vision of three maidens who appear nightly to spin and chant, entrancing a pastor’s son who, “listening to their gentle singing, felt his heart go from him clinging, round these maids of Elfen-Mere.” Allingham, who wrote the related ballad, was an Irish poet known for fairy subjects. The stiff drapery and repeated poses in the image derive from late Gothic art, while the girls resemble Rossetti’s beloved Elizabeth Siddal. Edward Burne-Jones, a close friend of Rossetti's, called the related design “the most beautiful drawing for an illustration I have ever seen.”

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Music Master
  • Author: William Allingham (Irish, Ballyshannon, Donegal 1824–1889 Hampstead, London)
  • Illustrator: Dante Gabriel Rossetti (British, London 1828–1882 Birchington-on-Sea)
  • Illustrator: Sir John Everett Millais (British, Southampton 1829–1896 London)
  • Engraver: Dalziel Brothers (British, active 1839–93)
  • Publisher: Routledge & Co. (London)
  • Published in: London
  • Date: 1855
  • Medium: Illustrations: wood engraving
  • Dimensions: 6 7/8 x 4 1/2 in. (17.5 x 11.5 cm)
  • Classification: Books
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1922
  • Object Number: 22.14
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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