Portraits of Jane Morris · II of II

Jane Morris outdoors against the billowing canopy; this copy (two prints done around 1930, differing in exposition)

As with a number of photographs in the Jane Morris series, at least three copies of this pose survive, one print in the Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, this copy (two prints done around 1930, differing in exposition), and another also in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Album of Portraits of Mrs. William Morris (Jane Burden). Posed by Rossetti, 1865 .

This picture is one of the most remarkable in the series, especially the two prints that are preserved in the Victoria and Albert album. Mrs. Morris is posed outdoors against the backdrop of a billowing canopy, with her hands clasped at her midriff. She is turned facing the camera, though she looks away to the right. The other V&A print [image # 3] is cropped down from the original negative, as is the Birmingham copy. The modern prints shows the composition of the original negative and is far the more dramatic and dynamic image, though the cropped version is also interesting and effective, not least because of certain ghostly internal “framing” effects (these appear on several other of the pictures in the series). The Birmingham print, which is a replica of the cropped version, does not display this framing effect.

This pose is very close in style to another pose also composed outdoors in the marquee [images # 4, 5, and 6].

Jane Morris is posed outdoors against the backdrop of a billowing canopy, with her hands clasped. Modern print (1930s)

Jane Morris standing, in marquee. The older V&A print (1865)

Jane Morris outdoors under a marquee, her body turned to the left, her face turned towards the camera. Modern print (1930s)

This pose is closely related to the previous one in which Mrs. Morris is outdoors under a marquee and against a white backgroup, with her hands clasped at her midriff. In this pose her body is turned to the left but her face is turned directly at the camera. As in the related pose, this exists in two printed states, one that shows a billowing canopy, the other that is cropped close. The cropped print is much less dramatic. The uncropped picture is in fact a modern print made when Gordon Bottomly was putting together the album of photographs that house all of the Victoria and Albert prints.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has two other prints of this picture. The Museum records identify the cropped print as an original, the other as a modern copy. Of course all the copies of the uncropped version ultimately derive from an original 1865 negative, and in fact it is these copies that show the negative’s original compositional structure.

Jane Morris outdoors under a marquee, her body turned to the left, her face turned towards the camera. Cropped version

Jane Morris outdoors against a black backdrop in front of a white cloth

Mrs. Morris standing facing right, outdoors against a black backdrop in front of a white cloth. The image is particularly startling because it contains two ghostly framing areas around Mrs. Morris, as we see in several other prints from this picture series (notably Jane Morris standing, in marquee: two sets of thee images each, discussed previously). These effects were generated subsequent to the shoot. They are due to the deterioration of the wet collodion negatives during handling.

Mrs. Morris, wearing a cape, is standing at a table. The scene is indoors with a window as background. This is the second photograph mounted in the album of Jane Morris Photographs put together in 1933 by Gordon Bottomly.

Mrs. Morris is seated, facing left. The scene is indoors. She is leaning forward over the back of a chair, with her arms clasping the chair. Her eyes are virtually closed.

This is the first print in the album of Jane Morris Photographs put together in 1933 by Gordon Bottomly.

Jane Morris standing outdoors, her back to the camera, her head turned to the right. 1865 print

Mrs. Morris stands outdoors, her back to the camera, her head turned to the right over her shoulder showing her profile. On the wicker chair to her left a shawl is draped. The only background is the garden vegetation, which is out of focus. A copy, cropped and printed darker, is the print made in 1865 [image above].

Jane Morris standing beside wicker chair. This is a modern copy showing the whole of the original compositional structure (1930s print)

Jane Morris outdoors, standing in front of wicker chair

Mrs. Morris outdoors, standing in front of wicker chair and turned at an angle toward the camera. Her hands are at her midriff. The shot is a variation on Jane Morris standing beside wicker chair [the two images previously discussed]. In this picture the shawl lies on the chair seat and is not draped over the chair.

Jane Morris standing with spray of foliage. Print made in 1865

This is a print made in 1865. Mrs. Morris stands outdoors facing right with her head lowered. Her hands, at her midriff, hold a spray of foliage. The only background is the garden vegetation, which is out of focus. A second print [image below], less cropped and printed darker, is identified in museum records as a modern copy made from the 1865 original negative.

Jane Morris standing with spray of foliage. Modern print (ca. 1930)

All images are from the book : Album of Portraits of Mrs. William Morris (Jane Burden) Posed by Rossetti, 1865. Composed by Gordon Bottomly in 1933

source of images V&A Museum

source of text Rossetti Archive

Portraits of Jane Morris · I of II

**John R. Parsons ::** Jane Morris, née Burden, posed by Rossetti, 1865. Albumen print from wet collodion-on-glass negative | V&A

Jane Morris seated, leaning forward with her head turned to the right, resting on her hand, and facing the viewer. DGR posed her in this striking posture and later recurred to the composition in his painting Reverie, done in 1868; the sitter was again Jane Morris.

All images in this post are from: Album of Portraits of Mrs. William Morris (Jane Burden) Posed by Rossetti, 1865. Composed by Gordon Bottomly in 1933
This book is an album of photographic prints that were made from photographs shot by John Parsons under Rossetti’s directions. All the photos seem to have been shot on 7th June 1865 at Rossetti’s house on Cheyne Walk. Most of the shots were taken outdoors, in the garden [where a marquee was set], but two were made indoors in the parlor. Some of the prints are original (dating back from 1865), some were made later as an effort to preserve the images, which were seen to be fading.

**John R. Parsons ::** Jane Burden (Mrs William Morris), posed by Rossetti, 1865. Albumen print from wet collodion-on-glass negative | V&A

Mrs. Morris is seated in a chair, facing right, with her back angled toward the camera. She turns toward the camera over her right shoulder, but is looking vaguely away

This portrait is closely related to two other pictures in the Jane Morris series of photographs: the picture is virtually the mirror image of “Jane Morris seated, half length” [image # 5 in this post], where Mrs. Morris faces left in much the same pose (the latter is also fairly closely cropped); and to “Jane Morris seated, half length” [image # 2 in this post]—a much less closely cropped shot, this one with Mrs. Morris also facing to the left.
DGR used this photograph as the compositional point of departure for the pencil drawing The Roseleaf

Mrs. Morris seated on a plush love seat, virtually full length, body turned to the viewer but her head turned away, facing right; her left hand is drawn up beneath her chin at her throat, her right hand on the love seat as support.

Mrs. Morris is seated, facing left, with her head bent slightly down. Her hands are in her lap. The picture is a much more closely cropped version, in reverse or mirrored state, of image # 3 in this post.

Jane Morris is reclining on a plush loveseat facing right

This is one of three prints made from a single negative. Mrs. Morris is reclining on a plush loveseat facing right with her head resting on a black pillow and turned slightly away from the viewer. Her hands are in her lap and the pose is set against a black backdrop. This print is cropped down like the Victoria and Albert’s 1865 original. Museum records identify the second copy in the V & A as a modern copy of the original. The modern print shows a larger background area that includes part of a canopy and some of its upholding poles.

Jane Morris outdoors, slumped in plush chair facing the camera, under cloth canopy

Mrs. Morris outdoors, slumped in plush chair facing the camera, under cloth canopy. Her left hand is curled back over her left shoulder, her right rests on her knee. Off to the right edge of the picture is visible a chair with a shawl or some sort of drapery thrown over it. A second print, uncropped, is identified in the Victoria and Albert records as a modern print; this is the original (1865) print.

Jane Morris seated in DGR’s garden, in full view, and facing to her right

At least three copies of this pose survive, one in the Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, the other two in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Album of Portraits of Mrs. William Morris (Jane Burden). Posed by Rossetti, 1865 .

The state of the two Victoria and Albert Museum prints tells much about DGR’s involvement with these photographs. In the larger copy [image below] a good deal of space is left around the sitter, who is seated in DGR’s garden, in full view, and facing to her right. A decorated screen is placed a few feet behind her; beyond that is foliage, though it is scarcely discernible as such. The print shows where Gordon Bottomly worked on the original print with a brush to disguise where the top of the print had been damaged during later efforts to mount it.

The smaller print [image above] in the album shows DGR intervening on the original photograph. In this case he has used a brush to paint on the print and smooth out Mrs. Morris’s dress (along the left sleeve and also among the folds by her left leg). The second print also illustrates a characteristic alteration of another kind that one finds in the album prints. This second print is much lighter and has been cropped so that the screen takes up virtually the whole of the background.

This print was made in 1865 and is cropped and printed lighter than the modern print

Mrs. Morris outdoors, seated in wicker chair facing right, with her left hand crossed to grasp the right edge of the chair and her right resting on the edge. A shawl draped across the chair has moved and is out of focus. A modern print [image below] showing the original compositional structure of the photograph is also in the V&A museum. This print was made in 1865 and is cropped and printed lighter than the modern print.