Mnemosyne (Rossetti) Mnemosyne (Rossetti) Mnemosyne, also titled Lamp of Memory and Ricordanza, is an oil painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti begun in 1875 or early 1876 and completed in 1881. Jane Morris was the model, and Frederick Richards Leyland bought the painting in 1881 and displayed it in his drawing room with five other Rossetti "stunners." At about the same time Rossetti, a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, was painting "Astarte Syriaca", a larger painting completed in 1877 with Morris in a very similar pose. "Mnemosyne" began as an oil study for "Astarte Syriaca", for which Jane Morris sat over the winter
Iris (mythology) Iris (mythology) In Greek mythology, Iris (; ) is the personification and goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. According to Hesiod's "Theogony", Iris is the daughter of Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra, and the sister of the Harpies: Aello and Ocypete. During the Titanomachy, Iris was the messenger of the Olympian Gods, while her twin sister Arke betrayed the Olympians and became the messenger of the Titans. She is the goddess of the rainbow. She also serves nectar to the gods and goddesses to drink. Iris is married to Zephyrus, who is the god of the west