Dante Gabriel Rossetti (English, 1828-1882)
Proserpine
1874
Oil on canvas (125,1 x 61 cm)
Tate

Although Rossetti inscribed the date 1874 on the picture, he worked for seven years on eight separate canvases before he finished with it. His Proserpine, like his model Jane Morris, is an exquisitely beautiful woman, with delicate facial features, slender hands, and flawlessly pale skin set off by her thick raven hair. Rossetti painted it at a time when his mental health was extremely precarious and his love for Jane Morris was at its most obsessive.

Unable to decide as a young man whether to concentrate on painting or poetry, his work is infused with his poetic imagination and an individual interpretation of literary sources. His accompanying sonnet to this work is a poem of longing: "And still some heart unto some soul doth pine," carrying an inescapable allusion to his yearning to seduce Jane from her unhappy marriage with William Morris. Proserpine had been imprisoned in Pluto's underground realm for tasting the forbidden pomegranate. Jane, trapped by convention, was also tasting forbidden fruit. There is a deeper meaning in the painting as Rossetti stayed with Jane at Kelmscott Manor during the summer months each year and in winter she returned to stay with William Morris, thus paralleling Proserpine's freedom during summer.

In Roman mythology, Proserpine, daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, was carried off to the Underworld (Hades) by Pluto, who married her despite her love for Adonis. When Ceres begged Jupiter to return her daughter to Earth, he agreed, on condition that Proserpine had not eaten any fruits in Hades. As Proserpine had eaten six pomegranate seeds, it was decreed that she should remain in Hades for six months of the year and be allowed on Earth for the other six.

#Rossetti #Proserpine #Pre-Raphaelites #art

[Bribes de la dernière EXPO au Grrrnd Zero ce mois-ci]

La main de Perséphone
La grenade était un fruit lié au monde souterrain des enfers dans la mythologie grecque antique. Il peut symboliser aussi le seuil entre l’obscurité et la lumière, et pour moi le passage intérieur entre l’hiver de l’esprit (la depression) et son printemps, le cycle de création et de destruction, celui de vie et de mort qui s’engendrent l’une l’autre.

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La version la plus connue du mythe dit que Perséphone la rebelle, enlevée par Hadès mais bien décidée à tirer profit et plaisir de ce séjour imposé aux enfers, goûta plusieurs grains de grenade au mépris de l’interdiction divine (alors que Zeus venait juste de négocier sa libération) et fut donc condamnée à passer le nombre de mois équivalent aux grains avalés dans ces souterrains (6 ou 8).
C’est l’origine mythique de la période hivernale et automnale : Démeter, sa mère déesse de l’agriculture pleine de chagrin, en solidarité avec sa fille et pour exiger son retour, refuse que nul fruit ne pousse sur terre (sauf la grenade infernale) tant que sa fille n’est pas revenue dans le monde des vivants (une sorte de grève).
Mais certaines versions du mythe font de Perséphone la maîtresse des enfers y résidant depuis toujours ! Et d’autres versions racontent que Persephone s’est éprise d’Hadès entre-temps, donc on pourrait aussi interpréter son geste hors-la-loi comme un défi pour s’émanciper des normes sociales, du joug parental et pour vivre dans un autre “monde” que celui destiné.

#mythology #exvoto #persephone #demeter #grenade #main #pomegranate #hand #proserpine