Dante Rossetti’s painting (Lady Lilith, 1866) and my floral pattern.
Dante Rossetti painted as a model his mistress Fanny Cornforth but he changed it in 1872 and painted the face of Alexa Wilding. Rossetti wrote a sonnet dedicated to Lilith. Lilith was Adam’s first wife in Jewish mythology. She was a symbol of temptation and seduction.
“Of Adam’s first wife, Lilith, it is told
(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,)
That, ere the snake’s, her sweet tongue could deceive,
And her enchanted hair was the first gold.
And still she sits, young while the earth is old,
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.
The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where
Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent
And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?
Lo! as that youth’s eyes burned at thine, so went
Thy spell through him, and let his straight neck bent
And round his heart one strangling golden hair.”
Dante Rossetti 
Richard Westall
Sources : victorianweb and Wikipedia
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