FDA-P.101-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-P.101-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Hist, Said Kate the Queen
Title Type
assigned by artist
Description
Painted scene with figures
Comments
This painting illustrates lines from poet Robert Browning’s Pippa Passes, a verse drama, first published in 1841.
Although Rossetti has dated the painting 1851, indicating the date of completion, this is thought to have begun as the colour sketch for a 4 x 7 ½ foot canvas that Rossetti was painting in 1849 for his aunt Margaret. The artist was dissatisfied with the larger canvas and destroyed it, although he seems to have retained three sections, which he adapted to make smaller paintings.
Pippa Passes tells the story of a young, silk-winder called Pippa, who wanders innocently through Asolo in northern Italy, singing as she goes. Pippa's song influences others, reminding them of moral order and duty. Alexandra Orr (a biographer of Robert Browning and the sister of the artist Frederic, Lord Leighton) described how Browning was influenced to write about:
'..some one walking thus alone through life; one apparently too obscure to leave a trace of his or her passage, yet exercising a lasting though unconscious influence at every step of it... the image shaped itself into the little silk-winder of Asolo...'
The part of Pippa’s song that Rossetti’s painting illustrates, describes a specific queen, Caterina Cornaro (1454–1510), Queen of Cyprus. The Queen’s attendants are dressing her hair, while nearby a page sings of his love for the Queen. The Queen attempts to silence her attendants and cranes to hear the song:
“Hist”, said Kate the queen;
But “Oh,” cried the maiden, binding her tresses,
"'Tis only a page that carols unseen,
Crumbling your hounds their messes!"
...
"Nay, list!" —bade Kate the queen;
And still cried the maiden, binding her tresses,
"'Tis only a page that carols unseen,
Fitting your hawks their jesses!"
The subject of this painting is taken from Robert Browning's verse drama 'Pippa Passes' (published 1841).
'No. 12 THE QUEEN'S PAGE.
"'Hist!' said Kate , the Queen.
But , 'O,' said the maiden, binding her tresses,
'It's only a page that carols unseen;
Crumbling your hounds their messes,
Fitting your hawks their jesses.'"
Pippa Passes. - ROBERT BROWNING.
This drawing is not included in Mr. Sharp's list, but is the original in water colour from which afterwards Rossetti began a large painting in oil, subsequently destroyed; a portion, however, was preserved in Mr. Hutton's "Two Mothers" (No. 7). See Mr. Sharp's volume, p. 146, and his catalogue, Nos. 18 and 26.
Water Colour. 1851. Size 12 by 22 1/2.
Lent by the Hon. Mrs. Spring Rice.'
[Source: 'Pictures, Drawings Designs and Studies by the Late Dante Gabriel Rossetti', Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1883, p.18, catalogue number 12]
Although Rossetti has dated the painting 1851, indicating the date of completion, this is thought to have begun as the colour sketch for a 4 x 7 ½ foot canvas that Rossetti was painting in 1849 for his aunt Margaret. The artist was dissatisfied with the larger canvas and destroyed it, although he seems to have retained three sections, which he adapted to make smaller paintings.
Pippa Passes tells the story of a young, silk-winder called Pippa, who wanders innocently through Asolo in northern Italy, singing as she goes. Pippa's song influences others, reminding them of moral order and duty. Alexandra Orr (a biographer of Robert Browning and the sister of the artist Frederic, Lord Leighton) described how Browning was influenced to write about:
'..some one walking thus alone through life; one apparently too obscure to leave a trace of his or her passage, yet exercising a lasting though unconscious influence at every step of it... the image shaped itself into the little silk-winder of Asolo...'
The part of Pippa’s song that Rossetti’s painting illustrates, describes a specific queen, Caterina Cornaro (1454–1510), Queen of Cyprus. The Queen’s attendants are dressing her hair, while nearby a page sings of his love for the Queen. The Queen attempts to silence her attendants and cranes to hear the song:
“Hist”, said Kate the queen;
But “Oh,” cried the maiden, binding her tresses,
"'Tis only a page that carols unseen,
Crumbling your hounds their messes!"
...
"Nay, list!" —bade Kate the queen;
And still cried the maiden, binding her tresses,
"'Tis only a page that carols unseen,
Fitting your hawks their jesses!"
The subject of this painting is taken from Robert Browning's verse drama 'Pippa Passes' (published 1841).
'No. 12 THE QUEEN'S PAGE.
"'Hist!' said Kate , the Queen.
But , 'O,' said the maiden, binding her tresses,
'It's only a page that carols unseen;
Crumbling your hounds their messes,
Fitting your hawks their jesses.'"
Pippa Passes. - ROBERT BROWNING.
This drawing is not included in Mr. Sharp's list, but is the original in water colour from which afterwards Rossetti began a large painting in oil, subsequently destroyed; a portion, however, was preserved in Mr. Hutton's "Two Mothers" (No. 7). See Mr. Sharp's volume, p. 146, and his catalogue, Nos. 18 and 26.
Water Colour. 1851. Size 12 by 22 1/2.
Lent by the Hon. Mrs. Spring Rice.'
[Source: 'Pictures, Drawings Designs and Studies by the Late Dante Gabriel Rossetti', Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1883, p.18, catalogue number 12]
Description
Dimensions
height (sight size): 310mm
width (sight size): 575mm
width (sight size): 575mm
Inscription
Signed with monogram and dated 1851
Frame inscribed in paint, top left: 'DGR'; top right: 'PRB'; bottom: 'Hist... said Kate the Queen'
Frame inscribed in paint, top left: 'DGR'; top right: 'PRB'; bottom: 'Hist... said Kate the Queen'
Materials & techniques note
Oil on canvas
Physical description
Carved and painted gilt frame
Production
Person
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 1828 - 1882 (Artist)
Date
1851
History and association
Associated object
FDA-A.2572-2025 (associated object)
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of Charlotte Polidori (aunt of the artist); by whom returned to the artist in 1856; from whom purchased by William Marshall of Patteradle Hall and 85 Eaton Square, London, in 1856, probably for 30 of 40 guineas;; collection of the Honourable Mrs Spring Rice by 1883; collection of Stephen Edward Spring-Rice (KS 1868-1874) and by descent; presented to Eton College by the children of Stephen Edward Spring-Rice: Edward Spring-Rice (KS 1904-1909) and Mary Honora Booth
Exhibited: 'Pictures, Drawings, Designs and Studies by the Late Dante Gabriel Rossetti', Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1883, catalogue number 12 (as 'The Queen's Page'; described as a watercolour), lent by the Honourable Mrs Spring Rice; 'Paintings and Drawings of the 1860 Period', Tate, London, 1923, catalogue number 19; 'Victorian Paintings', Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, November 1961, catalogue number 63; The Pre-Raphaelites, Tate, London, 7 March to 28 May 1984; 'Pre-Raphaelites: A Modern Renaissance', Musei di San Domenico, Forli, Italy, 23 February to 30 June 2024
Exhibited: 'Pictures, Drawings, Designs and Studies by the Late Dante Gabriel Rossetti', Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1883, catalogue number 12 (as 'The Queen's Page'; described as a watercolour), lent by the Honourable Mrs Spring Rice; 'Paintings and Drawings of the 1860 Period', Tate, London, 1923, catalogue number 19; 'Victorian Paintings', Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, November 1961, catalogue number 63; The Pre-Raphaelites, Tate, London, 7 March to 28 May 1984; 'Pre-Raphaelites: A Modern Renaissance', Musei di San Domenico, Forli, Italy, 23 February to 30 June 2024
References
• Surtees, V., The Paintings and Drawings of Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Oxford, 1971 (Text p.16, Plates no.49, no.38)
