Under the Plane-Tree
Title
Under the Plane-Tree
Alt Text Description
Grayscale illustration of a man sleeping in a woman’s lap under a plane tree. The woman watches the man and rests her hand on his hair.
Description
Tito shifts until his head rests in Tessa’s lap, and he falls asleep while she sits 'quiet as a dove,' barely daring to touch the dark curls by his ear. The image fixes that exact gesture, her hand on his hair under the plane tree, turning their pause into a moment of trust and tenderness.
“That was not quite comfortable; so he moved again, and asked Tessa to let him rest his head against her lap; and in that way he soon fell asleep. Tessa sat quiet as a dove on its nest, just venturing, when he was fast asleep, to touch the wonderful dark curls that fell backward from his ear" ("Under the Plane-Tree", Chapter 10).
“That was not quite comfortable; so he moved again, and asked Tessa to let him rest his head against her lap; and in that way he soon fell asleep. Tessa sat quiet as a dove on its nest, just venturing, when he was fast asleep, to touch the wonderful dark curls that fell backward from his ear" ("Under the Plane-Tree", Chapter 10).
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), Under the Plane-Tree, 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/83652
Illustration
