Dawning Hopes
Title
Dawning Hopes
Alt Text Description
Grayscale illustration of a busy market street. Various cuts of meat hang in the stalls and a young boy begs one of the vendors.
Description
In a crowded Florentine market street, meat hangs from stalls as vendors trade and a boy begs, while Bratti leads the hungry stranger, Tito Melema, into the Mercato Vecchio. As they move through the bustle, Bratti warns Tito about the danger of his valuable ring and listens to market talk about Florence’s unstable political climate, establishing Tito’s vulnerable arrival in the city.
“'San Giovanni be praised! A blind Florentine is a match for two one eyed men. But here we are in the Mercato.’ They had now emerged from the narrow streets into a broad piazza, known to the elder Florentine writers as the Mercato Vecchio, or the Old Market" ("Dawning Hopes", Chapter 6).
“'San Giovanni be praised! A blind Florentine is a match for two one eyed men. But here we are in the Mercato.’ They had now emerged from the narrow streets into a broad piazza, known to the elder Florentine writers as the Mercato Vecchio, or the Old Market" ("Dawning Hopes", Chapter 6).
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), Dawning Hopes, 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/83654
Illustration
