A Sea Spell, 1877 Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Dante Gabriel Rossetti also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting A Sea Spell is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

We offer free shipping as well as paid express transportation services.

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The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s depiction of the siren in "A Sea-Spell" presents a compelling fusion of music, myth, and enchantment. The painting, commissioned in 1877 for the ship magnate Frederick Leyland, shows a languid female figure seated against a backdrop of ripe fruit and blossoming flowers. Her luxurious auburn hair is crowned with fresh pink blooms, while a golden winged presence looms behind her. She plucks the strings of an unusual, upright instrument, each fingertip poised to summon a hypnotic melody. Although mythological sirens were frequently winged creatures, Rossetti retains her human form, emphasizing the allure of her gaze and the allure of her shimmering attire.

The color palette is marked by warm and muted tones, echoing the Pre-Raphaelite preference for vivid yet harmoniously blended hues. Rossetti’s attention to subtle gradations of pink, gold, and russet hues creates a luxuriant atmosphere. The interplay between her glowing dress and the flickering reflections of the instrument softens the overall composition. This chromatic orchestration envelops both subject and viewer in a world at once sensual and dreamlike, making the scene feel intimate, almost claustrophobic with its profusion of flowers and fruit. The result is a painting that harnesses color not as mere embellishment but as an active agent in shaping the viewer's perception.

Rossetti’s technique combines carefully layered brushwork with a delicate, almost feathery application of paint that gives the figure a translucent quality. The soft modeling of flesh and drapery stands in contrast to the more detailed work in her hair, revealing Rossetti’s pursuit of poetic realism. His selective emphasis on texture - from the siren’s diaphanous sleeves to the crisp outlines of the leaves - heightens the impression that she is caught within a suspended moment of spellbinding music. The shading and highlights emphasize both the quiet power in her arms and the reserved tension in her posture.

Compositionally, Rossetti arranges the figure so that she commands the central focus, with the instrument and flora curving protectively around her form. Our eye is directed along her arms toward the strings and then up to her pensive face, finally sweeping around to the bird perched behind her. Despite the mythic subject, the painting remains grounded in the nineteenth-century fascination with the “femme fatale.” In this context, Rossetti’s siren is both performer and captive of her own spell, embodying the era’s preoccupation with beauty and danger, and drawing the viewer into an immersive encounter with a pivotal theme of the age.