"La Ghirlandata"; shows a woman seated plucking at a harp, surrounded by plants with two angels peering through them. 'La Ghirlandata' is one of several paintings of women playing musical instruments painted
by Rossetti between 1871 and 1874 which loosely celebrate music or lyric poetry. His intense use of colour creates a brooding pictorial mood, while the picture's symbolism - although unclear - may reflect Rossetti's
unhappy mental condition at this time. In an article in the Art Journal in 1884 his brother William Michael Rossetti claimed that he had intended 'a fateful or deathly purport' through the dark blue flowers in the foreground,
which were supposed to be the poisonous monkshood - although, 'being assuredly far the reverse of a botanist', Rossetti painted its harmless relative larkspur by mistake. The honeysuckle and roses around the top of
the harp had a personal connotation of sexual attraction, while the harp itself represents music - common metaphor for love and lovemaking. The climbing plant on the right resembles a clematis - its climbing tendrilly
habit perhaps symbolizing binding love.
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La Ghirlandatawas translated by the artist’s brother, writer and critic William Michael Rossetti in 1884 as ‘The Lady of the Wreath’. The work was painted at Klemscott Manor in 1873, a house he shared with fellow artist
and designer, William Morris. The main figure was modelled by Alexa Wilding, an aspiring actress, while May Morris posed for the angel heads. However, at this point in his life, Rossetti was obsessively in love with
Jane Morris, William's wife and May's mother. Her features can be seen in the main figure, blending with those of Alexa Wilding, to create an uncanny tripling of Morris women... Rossetti invites multi-sensory appeal
in this work by including allusions to sound through the harp and songbird, and to scent via the flowers. Musical instruments in Rossetti’s later work are often seen as a metaphor for sexuality. The sensuous image evades
narrative, instead using symbols, rich colours and textural detail to create an overall effect of beauty. Rossetti himself thought highly of this painting, and described it as “the greenest picture in the world."
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