'The painter said, "It is as Santa Clara that I want you to stand."'

Grayscale illustration of a woman leaning on a stair banister and posing for a painter. Two other men sit at the back of the room.

The illustration depicts Dorothea posing for the painter, Naumann, as the saintly Santa Clara, emphasizing her spiritual purity. This scene contrasts her inner nobility with her sterile marriage to the onlooking Casaubon, while Will Ladislaw’s admiring gaze suggests their growing connection. "Naumann was all apologies in asking her to stand, and allow him to adjust her attitude, to which she submitted without any of the affected airs and laughs frequently thought necessary on such occasions, when the painter said, 'It is as Santa Clam that I want you to stand-leaning so, with your cheek against your hand-so-looking at that stool, please, so I'" (Book 2, Chapter 22).

Unknown

George Eliot Archive , edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org

1910

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Unknown, 'The painter said, "It is as Santa Clara that I want you to stand."', George Eliot Illustrations Gallery, George Eliot Archive , edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/83440