\paperw19995 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 The melancholic woman in this painting is Proserpine, or Persephone, the wife of Hades and queen of the underworld. She is
holding the pomegranate which, according to Greek myth, bound her forever to the realm of Hades when she ate its seeds.\par
The ray of light that illuminates the rear wall refers to ProserpineÆs annual return to her mother Demeter, in the world of the l
iving.\par
According to Rossetti himself, the ivy on the left symbolizes binding memory.\par
The censer underneath alludes to Proserpine herself.\par
The balustrade, in addition to measuring the scanty depth of the painting through its parallel sequen
ce of planes, appears to separate the world of the living from that of the dead.\par
The composition has a markedly vertical structure, emphasized by the womanÆs sinuous figure.\par
In the manner of Renaissance painters, Rossetti has signed and dated t
he painting on the scroll at the bottom.\par
Another inscription at the top recounts the story of Proserpine in a few lines.
