Desdemona's Death-Song

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

National Gallery of Art

One woman sits and bends forward, bracing her elbows on her wide-spread knees as a second woman combs her long hair in this vertical black chalk drawing on pale blue paper. Both have straight, strong noses, wide-set eyes, full, rounded lips, and pointed chins in thin faces. The seated woman’s knees are turned to our left, but she turns her head to look over our left shoulder with her lips parted. Her right arm extends almost straight so her hand lies limp beyond her right knee, and she holds an oval hand mirror tucked against her voluminous skirts in her other hand. The bodice and sleeves of her dress have been taken off, and they hang loosely around her waist. Her chemise has short, loose sleeves, and one bare foot peeks out from under her long skirt. A low table next to her shins, to our left, holds toiletries and bottles, and a bed set up on a platform separates her from the back wall of the room. She sits on the edge of the bed near the footboard. The second woman stands on the floor behind the bed and platform, reaching over the footboard to hold up the first woman’s hair with both hands. The second woman’s dress has long, puffy sleeves and a low, square-cut neckline. Her hair is pulled back under a twisted head band. She leans to one side, coming toward us, to look down at the seated woman from over one shoulder. A tree branch whips around the edge of a swirling curtain in the background to the left. To the right are a round shield and short sword, a lit candle in a tall candlestick, and a crucifix. An in scription in chalk in the top left corner of the drawing reads, “Desdemona’s Death-Song.” Along the bottom edge, more writing reads, “46 6/8 x 29 6/8 hanging sleeve more to side clear of dress.”