A Parable of Love (Love's Mirror)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Date: 1849 - 50

Materials: Pen and black ink with ink wash 

While the young man assists his beloved with her self-portrait, the mirror ('love's mirror') improves on art by reflecting an image of the two lovers together.

Whether the features of the woman are meant to be those of Elizabeth Siddal is unclear, but the subject can be read as a romanticised image of her in the dual role of Rossetti's model and pupil, in the earliest days of their relationship.

There is no contemporary reference to this drawing, although it is known to have belonged to the poet Coventry Patmore, who was an intimate associate of the Pre-Raphaelites.