The original version of A Vision of Fiammetta created by Dante Rossetti in 1878 is part of the famous British composer Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s private collection. The reproduction is created to the highest standards and fully captures the style of the Pre-Raphaelites for which Rossetti is so renowned and revered: As well as the artist’s infatuation with romance and the more poetic aspects of the world. The original was part of a pictorial ‘duet’; of which Ballads and Sonnets, created in 1881, is its second ‘half’.

Fiammetta - Italian for little flame – was the pseudonym of the important Renaissance humanitarian, author and poet Giovanni Boccaccio’s beloved muse. In his sonnet "On his Last Sight of Fiammetta" Boccaccio describes her wearing ‘a flame colored dress’ which is unmistakable within Rossetti’s composition. Boccaccio also describes Fiammetta as ‘the brief moment between life and death’ – To which it seems no accident that he depicts this beautiful woman with a bright halo of light: Giving her an angelic glow. The background also depicts red and white apple blossom which signifies transient beauty (short lasting) and death.

Marie Euphrosyne Spartali (married name Stillman) was the model for Fiammetta. Marie was of Greek descent and renowned for her charming beauty and intelligence: She is also considered one of the greatest female Pre-Raphaelite artists of the era. And indeed, as Fiammetta her charm seems to shine through – Another eye-catching as well as beautiful painting by the great Dante Rossetti.