Dorothea at the Vatican

Grayscale illustration of a woman in a hat and cloak leaning against a statue base. Behind her is a sculpture of a woman lying on her side.

This illustration shows Dorothea’s disillusioning honeymoon in Rome, where she is disallowed as a woman from visiting the Vatican Museum, where her husband has gone to study. As she reflects before the statue of Ariadne, she realizes how severely unfulfilling her marriage to Mr. Casaubon will be. "They were just in time to see another figure standing against a pedestal near the reclining marble: a breathing blooming girl, whose form, not shamed by the Ariadne, was clad in Quakerish grey drapery; her long cloak, fastened at the neck, was thrown back-ward from her arms, and one beautiful ungloved hand pillowed her cheek, pushing somewhat backward the white beaver bonnet which made a sort of halo to her face around the simply braided darkbrown hair" (Book 2, Chapter 19).

Stephens, Alice Barber (1858-1932)

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

1894

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Stephens, Alice Barber (1858-1932), Dorothea at the Vatican, 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/83561