Rossetti DG
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti
Nickname/Alias: name changed to Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Achievements: Leading member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of painters.
Born: May 12, 1828; London, England
Died: April 9, 1882; Birchington-on-Sea, Kent, England (Aged 54)
Field & Discipline: Art; Literature; Painter; Poet
Father: Gabriele Rossetti
Mother: Frances Polidori
Siblings: 1 brother, William, 2 sisters, Maria, Christina
Spouse: Elizabeth Siddal
Children: None
Education: University College School, London; Sass's Drawing Academy, London; Royal Academy of Arts, London.
Major Work:
Paintings:
"Beata Beatrix" (1864-70).
"La Ghirlandata" (1873).
"Proserpine" (1873-78).
Poetry:
"The Blessed Damozel" (1850).
"Poems" (1881).
Life & Times:
Rossetti’s father was Professor of Italian [father was] Giuseppe Rossetti*. In 1842, Rossetti joined Sass's Drawing Academy.. When he was eighteen, Rossetti was accepted by the Antique School of the Royal Academy, where he became a popular figure. He was soon dissatisfied with traditional teaching standards, which emphasised copying and drawing from engravings. While there, he sent poetry to the critic Leigh Hunt and the poet [sent poetry to] Robert Browning* but received no encouragement.
In 1848, he wrote to the young painter Ford Madox Brown, who took him on as a pupil. He did not enjoy the lessons and they were quickly discontinued but Brown remained a close friend. In the same year, Rossetti took a studio together with [a pal of] Hunt* and, through him, became friendly with [a pal of] Millais*. Both Brown and Hunt were in revolt against what they saw as the traditionalism of the Royal Academy. Rossetti agreed with their views and they decided to form a society opposed to the Academy, whose traditions, they believed, descended from [opposed to techniques of] Raphael*.
They called themselves the [Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, resolving to paint truthfully from nature and to avoid the sentimentality of the subjects seen in the Academy exhibitions. It was Rossetti who suggested they call themselves a Brotherhood. They each agreed to keep the society secret and to paint a picture for the 1849 exhibition, which would be signed only with the initials "PRB(https://app.thebrain.com/brain/f3e16344-7cd9-4fa3-ae1d-59876e128474/1b8a8fcf-cc33-5207-9727-c9ffe6217bb3).”
Rossetti showed "The Girlhood of Mary Virgin" at the 1849 Free Society exhibition, then travelled with Leigh Hunt to Paris and Holland. In the same year, he painted his first subject from Dante: "Angel on the First Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice." In 1850, the Brotherhood published the first edition of a monthly magazine called "The Germ,” later called "Art and Poetry,” aimed at promoting Pre-Raphaelite principles. Rossetti's most famous poem, "The Blessed Damozel,” was published in this edition.
The Brotherhood was now no longer secret and was regarded with hostility, but was saved by the intervention of the eminent art critic, [defended by] Ruskin*, who defended them. "Ecce Ancilla Domini" was painted that same year. It was not well received and Rossetti never exhibited in public again. Also in 1850, he met Elizabeth Siddal, an assistant in a milliner's shop who became a model for the Brotherhood. In 1852, she became engaged to Rossetti and he moved out of the family home into rooms overlooking the Thames at Blackfriars. From then on, Lizzie, as she was known, sat only for Rossetti.
The Brotherhood met for the last time in 1853 and, the following year, Rossetti met Ruskin for the first time. Ruskin bought drawings and watercolours from Rossetti and commissioned his only oil painting, "St Catherine.” In 1855, Rossetti completed his first Arthurian subject, "Arthur's Tomb: the last meeting of Launcelot and Guinevere.” The following year, he met [a pal of] Burne-Jones*, while taking a life class at the new Working Men's College where Ruskin taught. Burne-Jones and his friend [a pal of] William Morris* were admirers of the Pre-Raphaelites.
For the next three years, Rossetti was absorbed by the medieval period, which for a time replaced Dante as the main source of his inspiration. Morris bought six of Rossetti's watercolours, including "The Blue Closet" (1857) "The Tune of Seven Towers" (1857), "The Wedding of St George and the Princess Sabra" (1857) and "A Christmas Carol" (1857-8), all of which are among his finest medieval paintings.
In 1857, Rossetti was invited to produce a mural for the new Science Museum at Oxford, but he proposed instead to decorate the extension to the Oxford Union building, charging only for materials and expenses. He used both Burne-Jones and Morris on the project, which involved painting murals from the Arthurian legend. While in Oxford they met Jane Burden, who married Morris a year later and was to become Rossetti’s mistress. A commission to paint an altarpiece for Llandaff Cathedral in Wales had led Rossetti back to religious subjects, and then in 1859 he painted "Bocca Baciata,” for which the model was Fanny Cornforth, who later became his mistress. This more freely-painted, sensual picture was a turning point in Rossetti's art.
In 1860, Rossetti married Lizzie, by this time realising that she was dying. Morris had built a home for himself and Jane in Kent, called "The Red House" and Rossetti and Burne-Jones became involved in the decoration. The following year, Morris set up a design company with Burne-Jones and Rossetti as partners and for which Rossetti designed a chair and a sofa, and produced around thirty stained-glass designs.
In 1862, Lizzie committed suicide and was buried with a manuscript of Rossetti's unpublished poems. He moved to Chelsea where he shared a house at different times with his brother William, with the writer [shared house with] Meredith* and with [shared house with] Swinburne*, the poet. Fanny Cornforth, whom he set up in lodgings nearby, kept house for him. New contacts, including the painter [a pal of] Whistler* who lived nearby, led to Rossetti applying himself more seriously to his art.
In 1864, he resumed work on "Beata Beatrix,” a painting that he had begun some years before. He painted it from studies made of Lizzie and saw it as her memorial. In the same year, he visited Paris with Fanny. Whistler had given him an introduction to Henri Fantin-Latour, and through him Rossetti met [not impressed by] Manet* and [not impressed by] Courbet*, both of whose work he thought 'negligible'.
In 1865, the Morrises moved back to London and Rossetti fell in love with Jane Morris. Three years later, Rossetti painted his "Portrait of Mrs William Morris in a Blue Silk Dress" and began an affair with her. Morris arranged for Rossetti and himself to take a joint tenancy on Kelmscott Manor in Gloucestershire, after which he disappeared to Iceland, and Rossetti went to live with Jane.
In 1872 Rossetti suffered a mental breakdown and attempted suicide. He was found by his friend Ford Madox Brown, who brought the surgeon [life saved by] John Marshall* to the house and Marshall saved Rossetti's life. At the end of 1873, Jane left him, returning to London and leaving Rossetti on his own at Kelmscott. During that summer Rossetti began painting, from memory, one of his best known portraits of Jane entitled "Proserpine.”
For the rest of his life Rossetti suffered depression, insomnia and physical illness. He continued to work, completing "Proserpine" and painting "La Ghirlandata" (1873-78) for which the model, Alexa Wilding came to Kelmscott to sit. The painting was based on his poem "The Blessed Damozel" and Jane Morris's face was depicted in the background. He spent the autumn of 1875 and the spring of 1876 in Bognor Regis in a state of depression.
The following year, Jane Morris went there to sit for his painting "Astarte Syrica" , a work of great intensity. Her own health was now declining, so she left England for Italy. In 1878, she sat for Rossetti for "La Donna della Finestra,” his large painting of a subject from Dante and the following year she sat for "The Day Dream,” Rossetti's final painting of her. In 1881, now almost a recluse, he re-published his poems, including those he had written since 1870, under the title "Poems and Ballads and Sonnets.” He and his brother William carefully removed all clues to Jane's identity. He was still painting and in 1881 completed "La Pia de' Tolomei.” At the end of the year, after a visit to the Lake District with the faithful Fanny, Rossetti had a stroke. He recovered well enough to go to Birchington-on-Sea in Kent, to convalesce, in February 1882. He died of Bright's Disease.
Extra Connections:
[work set by] Debussy* wrote music to The Blessed Damozel.
Influenced [influenced] Pound*.
Knew [knew] Forbes-Robertson*, [knew] Wilkie Collins*
He was a friend of author [a pal of] Lewis Carroll*
He was a fan of [a fan of] Blake*
He was inspired by the Florentine discovery of a lost portrait of Giotto by Seymour [inspired by]Kirkup*
Assessment: Rossetti's paintings are valued for their compelling imaginative content rather than their technical excellence.
Oneliner: DG Rossetti, leading Pre-Raphaelite painter
Bibliography:
Rogers, David, Rossetti, Phaidon Press Ltd., London, 1996.