Per la Nativita di Nostro Signore

In this exquisite drawing, a buttercup plant, rendered in fine, precise pen strokes applied in a stippled pattern, is nestled between the lyrics of an Italian folk ballad about Saint Zita. Although the floral decoration is not explicitly related to the song, the plant seems to interact with the verse, with a few bladelike leaves overlapping the text registers.

An expatriate living in Florence, Francesca Alexander gained international attention through the advocacy of the famous English art critic John Ruskin, who admired her artistic naturalism and religious piety. Ruskin helped her publish a compilation of embellished song sheets, including S. Zita, as Roadside Songs of Tuscany (1884–85).