The Rainbow 1876

Curator: Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "The Rainbow," executed in 1876, offers a beguiling vision. Editor: My initial reaction is one of… fragility. The medium, pencil, lends itself to delicacy, yet the figure’s pose has a strange monumentality. It's an interesting tension. Curator: Indeed. Rossetti, steeped in Pre-Raphaelite symbolism, often explored themes of idealised beauty and melancholy. The rainbow itself, while absent in chromatic reality here, implies a bridge, a connection, or perhaps a fleeting promise. Editor: Focusing on process, one must acknowledge the sheer skill required to render such soft textures and subtle gradations with a simple pencil. The very act of building up these layers, the physical labor… that speaks to a pre-industrial mode of making. Each mark is deliberate. Curator: Absolutely, and within the broader context, we have to consider the symbol of hair. Here it acts as a sort of shroud. The gesture of the figure as well is classicized. Is she revealing or concealing herself, perhaps something unknowable or intangible? Is she Iris? Editor: Materially speaking, pencil is earth itself, refined into a tool. Looking at Rossetti's method, he seems intent on pushing the humbleness of pencil, challenging artistic hierarchies and production value. The lines curve; he really makes a conscious effort. It looks very soft like it could move with the wind. Curator: This drawing allows a certain interpretation because the symbolic and visual elements form an overall impression. Even without colour, we sense its ethereal presence. The rainbow arc almost reads as a halo, or a cage perhaps depending on our perspective. It resonates even today. Editor: "The Rainbow" challenges our expectations of finished art and offers something intimate through the simplicity of its materials. It encourages close contemplation. Curator: An intimate contemplation, echoing far beyond its material form into realms of myth, loss, and longing.