The Beloved (Rossetti painting)

The Beloved (also The Bride) is an oil painting on canvas by English artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, first painted in 1865 and now in Tate Britain.
History.
This painting illustrates the Song of Solomon. Two passages from the Song of Solomon are inscribed on the picture's gilded frame: "My beloved is mine and I am his" (2:16)and"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine" (1:2)
The bride, caught in the action of moving back her veil, is surrounded by her four attendants and a young Black child in the foreground of the painting. All contrast with the red hair and pale skin of the bride. From the darker skin of the child to the dark hair and eyes of the bride's attendants. It has been suggested that this colour contrast, carefully painted as a frame to the bride's features, was influenced by a controversial painting by Édouard Manet, entitled "Olympia" (first exhibited in 1865). Rossetti made a visit to Manet while working on "The Beloved", and the painting also owes much to the works of Titian. Others art historians have suggested that the paintings positioning of the models depicts the paler woman as more beautiful and therefore upholds whiteness as a standard of beauty. 
Rossetti arranged the bride in a head-dress which is distinctly recognisable as Peruvian, and in a Japanese gown. Again, this abundance of exotic fabric frames the face of the bride, dominant in the centre of the canvas, with its western-European features. Rossetti ostensibly finished this oil in 1866, but continued to make changes to it throughout his life.
Models.
The models for the painting include: 
The both male and female children were used as models for the initial studies of the child attendant, Gabriel is the name of one of the children who modelled for this figure.