Collections : [Yale University -Yale Center for British Art]

"I shall be very glad to see you tomorrow at 12. I have just received an extremely nice but I am sorry to say not very hopeful letter from Mr. Ruskin."

Rossetti thanks Heaton for giving him information regarding Ruskin's whereabouts, saying that he "had but a poor account of him" from Ned Jones. Rossetti says he will be happy to receive a visit from Heaton and Mrs. (Emelia?) Gurney and asks Heaton to give him a suitable time for her visit. Rossetti tells Heaton that Robert Browning was very pleased with Bethlehem Gate and says that he intends to revisit the Virgin's face in the work.

"I write according to promise to tell you that I have now 2 water colour drawings finished: After The Ninth Hour, which you saw begun, and Bethlehem Gate, for which you saw a design. In case you would like to pay me a visit and see them, I would appoint Friday or Saturday next at 11 pm or an earlier hour if such would suit you."

Rossetti apologizes for his delayed response; he has been in Brighton for two days. Rossetti admits he sent Heaton's drawing without a case (which had gone missing) and trusted his frame-maker to pack it carefully. Rossetti regrets that he will not have the two additional figures included in his picture by the end of the following week, as he has many earlier deadlines for other works. Rossetti apologizes if this means that Heaton will not be able to view the work before she leaves London but says that he can give her an idea of its arrangement by sending her a pen and ink sketch of what he proposes. The two additional figures would be "2 dark girls harping." Rossetti thinks that decisions regarding the work should be postponed until it is more advanced. In any case, he "might possibly be beginning a Beatrice if a model turned up." Rossetti asks Heaton how she likes his new writing paper (which features Rossetti's crest, monogram and Cheyne Walk address).

Rossetti has received an offer for The beloved and asks Heaton if she is no longer interested in the work. He says he has done no further work to the piece but has extended his plans for it so he can no longer paint it for 200 guineas, the price he first named for Heaton. Rossetti asks if he could paint her something else and says he has not forgotten the £50 she has given him for a painting of Beatrice. Rossetti has found a partly completed picture of his wife in oil, begun as a picture of Beatrice, which might possibly be able to be worked into a painting depicting Beatrice falling asleep by a wall and a sundial (Beata Beatrix). Rossetti apologizes for keeping the Dante's dream for so long and says he will try to get a photograph of it while he still has it.

Rossetti thanks Heaton for sending a pamphlet by Edmund Bates and expresses his pleasure that Bates enjoys his picture. Rossetti says he is concerned about his St John and is impatient to correct it. He admits that he made a similar mistake with another watercolor through "incautious use of red lead." Rossetti asks Heaton if she could send him the work. Rossetti is happy in his new home and says he would be glad to show Heaton his old one. He has not heard from Ruskin but is much more at ease with him. Rossetti regrets that he has not responded to Mr and Mrs Aldam Heaton and says he sent them his good wishes at the end of the year, and asks Heaton that she also passes them on. In a postscript, Rossetti says when he wrote to Mr. Heaton it was regarding the painting of a portrait of a Mrs. Leathart.

Rossetti has received word from his Christina Rossetti that Heaton would like a copy of one of the photos Rossetti has recently taken of Ruskin. Rossetti says he will send Heaton one, once they are printed but requests that she keeps it strictly in her possession, as a matter of legality. Rossetti is a little perturbed with Heaton's Beatrice painting, as the model he has employed to sit for the work differs in appearance from Beatrice's described appearance. Rossetti asks if he can change the work's subject to the bride from Solomon's Song, to better fit the model (a work that became The Beloved). Rossetti invites Heaton to view the completed head of the piece. Rossetti ends: "Hoping letter does not seem alarming as regards the picture, which promise you shall in any case be a thoroughly good specimen of work."

Rossetti promises Heaton that he has not forgotten her photograph of Ruskin but that he does not have one to send her at present. He tells Heaton Tuesday would be best for her to visit him, and offers a time of 5:30 pm or before 11am. Rossetti says that the Beatrice must be turned into Solomon's Bride and states that he will title the work The King's Daughter (i.e. The Beloved). Rossetti thinks that Heaton will still want the piece but, if she doesn't, he will paint her a Beatrice when he can find an appropriate model. He thinks Jane Morris would be suitable but that hiring her "would cause loss of time and patience" if indeed she is available. He states that "to paint it from any study, without nature, would be impossible."

Rossetti suggests that Heaton and Mrs. Gurney postpone their visit until he is better prepared as he does not have much work to show them. Rossetti says he will have more work, including "your Beatrice," at a more advanced stage later (actually a reference to The Beloved -- see Fredeman). Rossetti tells Heaton he will arrange an appointment for Heaton to meet Mr. Rose when Rose visits Rossetti the following day.

Rossetti describes a "Dantesque" subject (Beata Beatrix) he thinks might be suitable for Heaton's latest commission. It is Beatrice seated by a sundial showing the hour of nine o'clock. Rossetti says that nine is an important number in relation to Beatrice in the Vita Nuova, with Dante meeting her at nine years old, Beatrice dying at nine o'clock on 9 June 1290 and with Dante describing Beatrice as a "nine" (the perfect number or symbol). The picture's background will be a landscape, introducing scenes from Dante. Rossetti asks if Heaton would like a work on this subject, around the same size as the Joan of Arc.