ABSTRACT
In his drawings for the serial, Frederic Leighton, best remembered for his large paintings of classical and Renaissance themes, undertook the task of bringing fifteenth-century Florence alive for readers. Romola, serialized in the popular monthly Cornhill Magazine, was the only novel by George Eliot to be accompanied by illustrations in its first form. Founded in 1860, Cornhill Magazine was unique among the most popular 'high' literary monthlies for the inclusion of illustrations in each issue, which added to the magazine's tremendous initial popularity. Although Romola is an historical novel, Eliot makes clear in the Proem that it is as much a story about mid-Victorian England as Renaissance Florence. In Romola's moment of sacred rebellion, then, Eliot actually reverses cultural norms of gender and sexuality. The domestic feelings which are thwarted in Romola's marriage are exalted and given a new life in her role as Florence's Holy Mother.
