# data[].attributes.body
The Girlhood of Mary Virgin, http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/s40.rap.html.

Donnelly, Brian. “Sonnet--Image--Intertext: Reading Rossetti's the Girlhood of Mary Virgin and Found.” Victorian Poetry, vol. 48, no. 4, 2010, pp. 475–488.

Grieve, Alastair. “New Light on Rossetti’s ‘Girlhood of Mary Virgin.’” The British Art Journal, vol. 4, no. 2, 2003, pp. 83–85. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41614465. Accessed 15 Oct. 2022.

Hołdys, Małgorzata. "She “felt no fear at all”? The Virgin Mary
and the Feminist Voice in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The
Girlhood of Mary Virgin and Ecce Ancilla
Domini!." ACTA PHILOLOGICA: 36.

Johnston, Robert D. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Twayne, 1969.

# data[].attributes.body
Rossetti incorporates the theme of the purity of women into his works.  The Girlhood of Mary Virgin is no exception.  The painting includes long drapes that hide the women from the outside world.   This is inline with Rossetti faith and place of worship which stressed "the various Christian graces of humility, charity, modesty, and purity" (Grieve 85).

# data[].attributes.body
The Girlhood of Mary Virgin was received very well.  His ability to included a duality. His work shows a very realistic scene that Mary is being educated by her mother. This is very believable and its viewers can easily relate. Rossetti included the sonnets that provide a literal depiction of the scene while also referring to its symbolism.

# data[].attributes.body
Two of Rossetti's influences came directly from his tutors, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hunt.  Rossetti would have also seen similar works of art by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and mentions him directly as an influence.  The painting shows a youthful Mary being taught to read by her mother Anne.  This is a common scene of medieval and Renaissance art (rossettiarchive.org).  Rossetti gives great effort in giving the scene realism, but at the same time adding elements of Christian symbolism.

# data[].attributes.body
The Girlhood of Mary Virgin was Rossetti's first major oil painting.  He started the work in the summer of 1848 and finished it the following March.  The painting was on displayed at Free Exhibition in London.  Rossetti presented the painting with a pair of sonnets.  These sonnets laid out much of the symbolism within the painting as well as a translation of what is being depicted in the painting.  Rossetti used his close relatives to model for the main focus of the painting.  His sister Christina Rossetti modeled for the the virgin Mary while his mother, Frances Polidori Rossetti modeled for St. Anne.

# data[].attributes.body
The Girlhood of Mary Virgin was painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.   Dante was an English artist of the 19th century.  He grew up in a family that  valued the arts with his sister was a poet and his brothers were a critic and a writer.  Rossetti wrote in a letter his own description that lets us know that he felt the education of Mary was 'the most worthy of interest of the Christian community."  The art community praised Rossetti for this work, but he was heavily criticized throughout his career and it affected him greatly.   Early in his career he moved away from oil painting because the critics.  Later on in life he fell into a depression because the critics were very harsh regarding his poetry.   With the depression, Rossetti drank heavily which eventually led to health issues and his death.