A Cultural History of Hair in the Age of Empire by Sarah Heaton;

Author:Sarah Heaton;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK

FIGURE 6.1: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lady Lilith, 1866–1868 (altered 1872–1873). Oil on canvas, 97.5 cm × 84.1 cm. Delaware Art Museum Wilmington, USA/Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935.

FIGURE 6.2: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lady Lilith, 1873. Oil on canvas. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Charles (1828–82) / Universal Images Group North America LLC / Alamy Stock Photo.

The accentuated paleness of the skin and reddening of the lips suggest the artifice of beauty as do the additional folds in her dress. While the whitening of the roses surrounding her as well as her expression suggest that even though she is displaying her sexuality with the spreading of her hair and her availability in the absent corset and uncovered shoulder it is a cold and sterile sexual offering. The passionate red rose is plucked for her own pleasure and the red cord tied around her own wrist all reinforce the narcissistic gaze of self-desire unavailable to the male viewer of the painting. Finally, the daisy garland is not worn but symbolically placed to suggest a figuratively unbroken or perhaps rather unbreakable hymen; Lilith would, after all, not be subservient to Adam. The mirror in the background rather than containing her demon daughter contains nature. Rossetti’s picture with all its sensuousness foregrounds the link between hair and sensuality in the Victorian cultural consciousness and explores the relationship between innocence, artifice, and female sexual desire. Lenihan points out that Rossetti altered the painting on the request of the purchaser as the blonder tone was too “sensual and commonplace” reminding us that blonde hair, as has already been seen, is equally mobile as a signifier.74 The changes made depict the tensions within the picture that refuse an easy reading of simple enchantment. The lines in the poem point to the tension: “And, subtly of herself contemplative, / Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave, / Till heart and body and life are in its hold.”75 She is simultaneously sexualized and empowered. Lilith here is depicted combing her hair, the comb becomes linked simultaneously to the weaving, styling, authoring of the self, and sexuality. The tension in the painting suggests the male anxiety of desire mixed with fear of the empowered sexual feminine.

A similar development can be seen in the earlier studies and the final painting of William Holman Hunt’s The Lady of Shalott. In the earlier Study for the Lady of Shalott (1850) her hair is tied at her neck suggesting that her hair and her arm offer little resistance to her fate. The drawing suggests a chasteness. Even in the mirror image she is turning away from Sir Lancelot while the roundel which shows his face is closest to her suggesting his complicity. Art historian Sharyn Udall questions “why this high-born lady described by Hunt as ‘intelligent’, condemns herself to a life lived at second and then, in a defiant about-face, rashly invokes the threatened curse.”76 And it is this questioning which begins to emerge in the illustration in the Moxon edition of the poet’s work.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.