The Eve of St Agnes (1863)
Sir John Everett Millais (1829-96)
Sir John Everett Millais (1829-96)
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The subject of the painting refers to the superstition that a girl could see her future husband in a dream if she performed certain rites on 20 January, the evening before the feast day of St Agnes. St Agnes was a young Roman girl who was martyred for her faith in the 4th century. The tale inspired poems by both John Keats (1819) and Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1837), and Sir John Everett Millais produced a number of drawings and paintings on the same theme. . .
.
The subject of the painting refers to the superstition that a girl could see her future husband in a dream if she performed certain rites on 20 January, the evening before the feast day of St Agnes. St Agnes was a young Roman girl who was martyred for her faith in the 4th century. The tale inspired poems by both John Keats (1819) and Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1837), and Sir John Everett Millais produced a number of drawings and paintings on the same theme. . .
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verse 6
They told her how, upon St. Agnes' Eve,
Young virgins might have visions of delight,
And soft adorings from their loves receive
Upon the honey'd middle of the night,
If ceremonies due they did aright;
As, supperless to bed they must retire,
And couch supine their beauties, lily white;
Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire.
Young virgins might have visions of delight,
And soft adorings from their loves receive
Upon the honey'd middle of the night,
If ceremonies due they did aright;
As, supperless to bed they must retire,
And couch supine their beauties, lily white;
Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire.
verse 25
Full on this casement shone the wintry moon,
And threw warm gules on Madeline's fair breast,
As down she knelt for heaven's grace and boon;
Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest,
And on her silver cross soft amethyst,
And on her hair a glory, like a saint:
She seem'd a splendid angel, newly drest,
Save wings, for heaven:--Porphyro grew faint:
She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint.
(-:
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XXX
And threw warm gules on Madeline's fair breast,
As down she knelt for heaven's grace and boon;
Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest,
And on her silver cross soft amethyst,
And on her hair a glory, like a saint:
She seem'd a splendid angel, newly drest,
Save wings, for heaven:--Porphyro grew faint:
She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint.
(-:
.
XXX
