[1] It shows a frontal half-length portrait of one of Rossetti's main models, Alexa Wilding, with her head turned to the right of the frame.

[1] After its completion he renamed it Monna Vanna (vain woman) to underline the vanity of life or more likely to emphasize the subject's Italian origins.

[3] The new title derived from Monna Vanna ("Vain Woman"), a character in chapter XXIV of one of Rossetti's favourite books, La Vita Nuova (1294) by his namesake Dante Alighieri.

The woman in question may refer to Giovanna, the beloved of the poet Guido Cavalcanti, who is heavily associated with images of springtime in Dante's work.

The painter had translated the Vita into English in 1848[1] and it had intense personal significance to him, principally in its allusions to spring, referenced in this painting by the vase of flowers in the top right hand corner and the floral motifs on the woman's gold brocade robe.