Middlemarch

Purgatorio VII Epigraph

The chapter opens with an Italian epigraph from Dante’s Purgatorio, Canto VII, describing a figure who has made a pillow of her palm in lamentation.

Dorothea’s Roman Honeymoon

Mrs. Casaubon (formerly Dorothea Brooke) has journeyed to Rome on her honeymoon during an era when George the Fourth reigned, the Duke of Wellington served as Prime Minister, and Mr. Vincy was mayor of Middlemarch. The text establishes this historical moment as a period when the world was approximately forty years more ignorant about art and culture than the present day.

The Ignorant Age

Travellers to Rome during this time carried minimal knowledge of Christian art, and even prominent English critics mistakenly identified the flower-adorned tomb of the ascended Virgin as merely an ornamental vase. Romanticism had not yet spread through society; it remained confined to enthusiastic circles of long-haired German artists working in Rome, with their influence gradually extending to young foreigners who idled near them.

Ladislaw at the Vatican

Will Ladislaw, a young Englishman with abundant curly hair, stands at the Vatican examining the Belvedere Torso and admiring the panoramic mountain views from the round vestibule. He appears deeply absorbed in contemplation when approached.

Naumann’s Interruption

A dark-eyed, animated German artist named Naumann interrupts Ladislaw’s reverie by placing a hand on his shoulder and urging him to follow quickly, warning that a subject will change her pose. Ladislaw complies, and the two companions proceed toward the hall containing the reclining Ariadne sculpture.

The Reclining Ariadne

They observe the marble statue then known as the Cleopatra but now identified as the reclining Ariadne, described as possessing a voluptuous beauty with drapery falling around her “with a petal-like ease and tenderness.”

Dorothea in Gray

A young woman stands near the pedestal, her blooming form clad in Quakerish gray drapery. Her long cloak is thrown backward from her arms, and she pillows her cheek on one beautiful ungloved hand, with a white beaver bonnet creating a halo effect around her simply braided dark-brown hair. She appears lost in thought, gazing dreamily at a streak of sunlight on the floor, seemingly unaware of the sculpture or the observers.

Naumann’s Admiration

Naumann expresses admiration for what he perceives as a striking artistic antithesis: the contrast between arrested antique sensuous perfection and living Christian beauty. He contemplates photographing or painting her, noting her wedding ring and speculating about the “sallow Geistlicher” (clergyman) nearby as potentially her wealthy husband who might commission a portrait. When Dorothea becomes conscious of the strangers, she turns away to join her maid and courier.

The Cousin’s Secret

Will Ladislaw reveals to Naumann that the woman is his second cousin, Mrs. Casaubon. His face shows signs of being “struck together” by this encounter. He explains he met her only briefly once before, just before leaving England, when his cousin introduced them before their marriage. He had not known they were coming to Rome.

The Portrait Proposal

Naumann eagerly suggests locating the Casaubons and offering to paint Dorothea’s portrait. Ladislaw reacts with irritation, insisting he is not so “brazen” as to pursue such a course. Naumann, undeterred, dismisses this hesitation as amateurish and artistically timid.

Art Versus Language

The two friends engage in philosophical debate about artistic representation versus language. Naumann defends painting as the universe straining toward significant artistic expression, while Ladislaw counters that language provides a fuller, vaguer image that allows for richer imaginative interpretation. Ladislaw argues that painting reduces women to “colored superficies” and cannot capture their essential nature, which changes moment by moment. He maintains that a woman’s voice is “diviner than anything you have seen of her.” Naumann teasingly suggests Ladislaw may be jealous of any man attempting to capture his ideal.

Ladislaw’s Irritation

Will Ladislaw becomes increasingly agitated by what he recognizes as “ridiculously small causes” of his own making. He questions why he is making any fuss about Mrs. Casaubon yet feels something significant has occurred between them. The narrator notes that certain character types perpetually create “collisions and nodes” in dramas others are unwilling to act in, with their susceptibilities clashing against objects that remain peacefully unaware.