3-053-645 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Les Roses." by Portaels, 1873. Engraving of a painting. 'In this graceful picture, by a Belgian artist, we are invited to admire the simple and innocent self-surrender of an Eastern maiden to the delightful sense of floral fragrance. The mind of Lalla Rookh, or whoever she may be, is for the moment absorbed in the enjoyment of a sweet natural perfume, which may have the effect, as is usual, of reviving tender memories and calling up the clearest associations of earlier youth. So we think, at least, from the melting expression of her big black eye. A sensitive female nature is like that crystal vessel to which Lalla Rookh's own poet has elsewhere alluded: "You may break, you may ruin, the vase if you will, But the scent of the roses hangs over it still". We shall not attempt to pry into her sentimental experiences of the past'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.