Marie Spartali Stillman: The Last Sight of Fiammetta

Marie Spartali Stillman (British, 1844-1927), The last sight of Fiammetta, ‘Above her garland and her golden hair I saw a flame about Fiammetta’s head’ (Boccaccio), signed with monogram (lower right), inscribed on an exhibition label (attached to the reverse), watercolour, bodycolour and gum arabic, 82 x 62cm (32 5/16 x 24 7/16in), Image Source: Bonhams

The present work is the first of Stillman’s based on Rossetti’s translations from Boccaccio, where a sonnet entitled ‘The Last Sight of Fiammetta’ describes what seems to be the death of the beloved:

Round her red garland and her golden hair
I saw a fire about Fiammetta’s head;
Thence to a little cloud I watch’d it fade,
Than silver or than gold more brightly fair;
And like a pearl that a gold ring doth bear,
Even so an angel sat therein, who sped
Alone and glorious throughout heaven, array’d
In sapphires and in gold that lit the air.
Then I rejoiced as hoping happy things,
Who rather should have then discern’d how God
Had haste to make my lady all his own,
Even as it came to pass. And with these stings
Of sorrow, and with life’s most weary load
I dwell, who fain would be where she is gone.

READ FULL ESSAY: Bonhams

Read More

A Closer Look: Marie Spartali Stillman, The Last Sight of Fiammetta

Marie Spartali Stillman at wikiwand

Marie Spartali Stillman at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood

See More

Marie Spartali Stillman at Bonhams

Marie Spartali Stillman at Christie’s

Marie Spartali Stillman at Sotheby’s

Marie Spartali Stillman at wikimedia

See Also

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood at Stephanie Chatfield’s blog

Women of the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood at Stephanie Chatfield’s blog

Thanks for Visiting 🙂

~Sunnyside

14 Comments Add yours

  1. penwithlit says:

    Reblogged this on penwithlit and commented:
    Very lovely!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. She is very pretty. I like the soft colors.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I am so pleased you like this, Sheila. I want to know more about her method with ” watercolour, bodycolour and gum arabic” to create her own unmistakable style. 🙂

      Like

  3. Have you considered dressing that way yourself?

    Liked by 1 person

      1. “¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión,
        una sombra, una ficción,
        y el mayor bien es pequeño:
        que toda la vida es sueño,
        y los sueños, sueños son.”

        “What is life? An illusion,
        a shadow, a fiction,
        and the greatest good is small:
        for all life is a dream,
        and dreams are themselves dreams.”

        — Pedro Calderón de la Barca
        La Vida es Sueño,, 1635.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. gabychops says:

    Thank you for the poem and painting.

    Joanna

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Ana Daksina says:

    What a beautiful sonnet!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ana. 🙂❤️

      Like

  6. gabychops says:

    Thank you!

    Joanna

    Liked by 2 people

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