Proserpine (Rossetti)
painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Proserpine (also Proserpina or Persephone) is an oil painting on canvas by British Pre-Raphaelite artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It was made in 1874 and is now in the collection of the Tate Britain. Rossetti painted at least eight versions of the same subject from 1871 until 1882, the year of his death. Early versions were promised to Charles Augustus Howell.
The painting discussed in this article is the seventh version of Prosperine, which was commissioned by Frederick Richards Leyland. This painting is in the Tate Britain, but a very similar version of the subject is in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
History
Rossetti's Proserpine depicts the Roman goddess Proserpina who lives in the underworld during winter. In Roman mythology, Proserpina, daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, was carried off to the Underworld (Hades) by Pluto, who married her despite her love for Adonis. When Ceres begged Jupiter to return her daughter to the earth, he agreed, on condition that Proserpine had not eaten any fruits in Hades. As Proserpine had eaten six pomegranate seeds, it was decreed that she should remain in Hades for six months of the year and be allowed on the earth for the other six.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Proserpine (Rossetti)” as painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q977777. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1874, 1871 and 1882.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Proserpine (Rossetti)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Proserpine (Rossetti) primary sources, Proserpine (Rossetti) archive and Proserpine research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Proserpine (Rossetti)”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Proserpine (Rossetti)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.