Blanzifiore

Blanzifiore (1873) at the Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection takes its name from a character in medieval French romance — Fleur Blanche, the white flower — and belongs to Rossetti's mature series of flower-identified female figures. The mid-1870s were a complex period for Rossetti: his mental health crisis of 1872 had left him dependent on chloral and increasingly reclusive, but his painting production remained substantial. The pale blonde type suggested by Blanzifiore's name contrasts with Jane Morris's dark coloring, and Rossetti likely used a different model for this figure — possibly Alexa Wilding, who provided his fair-haired type. The Lloyd Webber Collection's significant Pre-Raphaelite holdings place this work within a distinguished context of private connoisseurship.

The white-flower association calls for a cooler, paler coloristic range than Rossetti's typical warm palette — cool whites, pale greens, and delicate pinks — which creates a different visual temperature from his works based on Jane Morris's dark beauty.