The blind father sat with head uplifted

Colored illustration of a young woman standing at a reading desk. She reads aloud to an old man sitting in a chair next to her.

In their Florentine home, Romola reads to her blind father, Bardo de’ Bardi, who depends on her learning and care. The scene establishes their father-daughter bond and shows how duty and shared scholarship guide Romola’s life. “The blind father sat with head uplifted and turned a little aside towards his daughter, as if he were looking at her. His delicate paleness, set off by the black velvet cap which surmounted his drooping white hair, made all the more perceptible the likeness between his aged features and those of the young maiden, whose cheeks were also without any tinge of the rose” ("The Blind Scholar and his Daughter", Chapter 5 ).

Hammond, G. Demain (1862-1952)

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

1911

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Hammond, G. Demain (1862-1952), The blind father sat with head uplifted, 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/83461