Jane and the Wombat

On September 10, 1869, Dante Gabriel Rossetti sketches the picture above, calling it: Parted Love; or, The Wombat. A day later, he wrote the following letter to his lover, Jane Morris (nee Burden), the wife of his friend and student, William Morris:

What do you think? I have got a Wombat at Chelsea, come the other day, whose portraits (by Dunn) I enclose.

Your affectionate,
D. Gabriel. R

PS:

Oh! how the family affections combat
Within this heart; and each hour flings a bomb at
my burning soul; neither from owl nor from bat
can peace be gained, until I clasp my Wombat!