For a Venetian Pastoral, by Giorgione (in the Louvre) (WMR corrected copy)

This copy of the sonnet is one of six made by WMR for a book he contemplated, to be titled Dicta of Artists, “Being Remarks by Various British Artists and Other Artists on Matters of Art”. He compiled the materials sometime after the turn of the century. The section of the book devoted to DGR's comments on art included this sonnet plus five other of DGR's “Sonnets for Pictures”, including “For an Allegorical Dance of Women, by Andrea Mantegna, in the Louvre”, “For a Virgin and Child, by Hans Memmling, in the Academy of Bruges”, “For a Marriage of St. Katharine, by the same (Hans Memmeling)” , and the pair of sonnets “For Ruggiero and Angelica, by Ingres”. The projected book, with these sonnets, is preserved in the library of the National Museum of South Africa.

This copy is notable because WMR's text represents both the early (1849) version of the sonnet as well as the revised version of 1869.