The Bower Meadow 1872

Dante Gabriel Rossetti completed this oil painting on canvas, The Bower Meadow, now at the Manchester Art Gallery. The most prominent symbolic element here is music: the zither, held by the fair ladies in the foreground, evokes themes of harmony, love, and transience. Musical instruments appear time and again throughout art history—consider David playing his harp, or Orpheus charming with his lyre. Yet here, it’s not so much the making of music, but its effect that captures our attention. The gestures are heavy and languid, almost dreamlike. Notice the dancers in the background—a motif that can be traced to the classical depictions of the Three Graces, goddesses of charm, beauty, and creativity. The intense gazes and intertwined bodies hint at a deeper psychological landscape, a powerful force that engages us, the viewers, on a subconscious level. The echoes of musical and physical harmony remind us how gestures and symbols continue to resurface, evolving in meaning as they journey through time.