The Black Marks Become Magical
Title
The Black Marks Become Magical
Alt Text Description
Grayscale illustration of a cart in front of a city gate.
Description
Outside a Florentine city gate, Baldassarre waits beside a rough cart and watches the guarded entrance as dusk settles. When Tito passes through the gate into the Rucellai Gardens, Baldassarre stays behind, using the threshold as a vantage point and sharpening his resolve for revenge.
“But when Tito stopped at the gate of the Rucellai gardens, the figure behind stopped too. The sportello, or smaller door of the gate, was already being held open by the servant, who, in the. distraction of attending to some question, had not yet closed it since the last arrival, and Tito turned in rapidly, giving his name to the servant, and passing on between the evergreen bushes that shone like metal in the torchlight" ("The Black Marks become Magic", Chapter 38).
“But when Tito stopped at the gate of the Rucellai gardens, the figure behind stopped too. The sportello, or smaller door of the gate, was already being held open by the servant, who, in the. distraction of attending to some question, had not yet closed it since the last arrival, and Tito turned in rapidly, giving his name to the servant, and passing on between the evergreen bushes that shone like metal in the torchlight" ("The Black Marks become Magic", Chapter 38).
Illustrator
Leighton, Frederic (1830-1896)
Contributor
Swain, Joseph (1820-1909), engraver
Publisher
George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org
Date
1863, 1880
Rights
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Work Illustrated
Romola
Citation
Leighton, Frederic (1830-1896), The Black Marks Become Magical, 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/83588
Illustration
