[1][2][3] In his Proserpine, the artist illustrates in his typical Pre-Raphaelite style the Roman goddess Proserpina who lives in the underworld during Winter.

His Proserpine, like his model Jane Morris, is an exquisitely beautiful woman, with delicate facial features, slender hands, and flawlessly pale skin set off by her thick raven hair.

Rossetti painted it at a time when his mental health was extremely precarious and his love for Jane Morris was at its most obsessive.

As she passes, a gleam strikes on the wall behind her from some inlet suddenly opened, and admitting for a moment the sight of the upper world; and she glances furtively towards it, immersed in thought.

[5]Unable to decide as a young man whether to concentrate on painting or poetry, his work is infused with his poetic imagination and an individual interpretation of literary sources.

In Roman mythology, Proserpine, daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, was carried off to the Underworld (Hades) by Pluto, who married her despite her love for Adonis.

When Ceres begged Jupiter to return her daughter to Earth, he agreed, on condition that Proserpine had not eaten any fruits in Hades.