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Victorian Art in Britain |
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Dante
Gabriel Rossetti
1828
- 1882
Dante
Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882 Rossetti was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and was the soul and main intellectual force of the whole movement. He must have been a fascinating individual, who was the inspiration for the whole of the second generation of the movement, and was the artistic mentor of the young Burne-Jones and William Morris. I have felt for a considerable time that the biography on VAB of Rossetti is grossly inadequate, and this replacement represents an attempt to address its shortcomings. Biography
of Rossetti Early
Life Gabriel
Charles Dante Rossetti was born at Charlotte Street, off Portland Place,
London on May 12th 1828. His father Gabriele Rossetti
(1783-1854), was a political refugee from Naples. He had objected to the
restoration, and subsequent return to repressive policies of the
Neapolitan monarchy after the defeat of Napoleon, and was an early
advocate of the unification of Italy. He was a writer and academic, and
was Professor of Italian at Kings College, which gave him a regular,
though small, income. Gabriele's wife was Frances Polidori,
(1800-1886), daughter of an Anglo-Italian family, a former governess,
and 17 years the junior of her husband. She was his intellectual equal,
and was adored by her four children. Both mother and father shared the
upbringing of their family, and this upbringing was enlightened and
kindly, in marked contrast to many English families of the time. The
children were allowed into the intelligent adult company of their
parents and friends, and their early intellectual maturity resulted from
this. Frances was heard to remark that less intellectual attainment and
more common sense may have been preferable. The eldest child was Maria
Francesca (1827-1877), and the other siblings were William Michael
(1829-1919), and Christina Georgina (1830-1894), like her brother a
poet. Gabriele spoke Italian to his children, and they conversed with
their mother in English. Rossetti
senior worked long hours at Kings College, and supplemented his income
by private tuition. Neither he, nor his wife socialised outside their
home, lacking the necessary income and time. Most evenings there were
two or three fellow Italian exiles in the house, and the talk was of
art, literature, and primarily politics. Perhaps as a result of this
Dante Gabriel Rossetti the adult, was, though enlightened and
progressive, disinterested in the specifics of politics. Edward
Burne-Jones was similar in his outlook. The
closest companion of Rossetti's childhood was his brother William
Michael. They shared the same bedroom, the same bed, and had common
interests. The self-effacing William brought much-needed stability to
his mercurial brother, something he continued to do throughout his whole
life. In 1844 at the age of fifteen it was arranged that William started
work at the Board of Excise to help the family budget. Rossetti, from
earliest youth, had a fiery dominant character, and was a natural
leader. Following a short time attending Sass's Academy he enrolled in
the Royal Academy School of the Antique in 1846. Tiring of the routine
and repetitive work of the school, Rossetti wrote to Ford Madox Brown in
1848 asking to become his student. The notoriously touchy and suspicious
Brown initially thought this approach was insincere, but finding it was
genuine, offered his help. Here again Rossetti soon rebelled against the
regime of steady, repetitive work, demanded by Brown and left to work
with Holman Hunt. Rather surprisingly Brown was not offended by this and
they remained friends for the rest of Rossetti's life-Rossetti sent
for Brown when he found his wife dying from a drug overdose, and Brown
ultimately designed the painters gravestone at Birchington-on-Sea. It
was at this time apparent to Rossetti that writing poetry was much
easier for him than painting, and he seems to have considered
concentrating solely on poetry. He sent some of his poems to Leigh Hunt
(1784-1859), poet and essayist, asking his opinion. Hunt, after a
considerable delay, returned the work to Rossetti, annotated, and with a
letter of encouragement, recognising the real merit and originality of
the poems. The
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood In 1848
Rossetti met Millais, already a close friend of Holman Hunt, and the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed at a meeting at the home of
Millais's parents in Gower Street. The original members of the PRB
were Millais, Holman Hunt, Thomas Woolner the sculptor, Dante and
Michael Rossetti, Frederic Stephens, and James Collinson. This group of
young artists had come to regard the main English artistic establishment
of the day with contempt, seeing their work as commonplace, lacking in
originality, effort, vigour, and imagination. The PRB wished to produce
art which was serious, elevated in its ideals, true to nature, vividly
coloured, and where appropriate making social and moral comment. They
saw, in the early Italian painters from Giotto to Leonardo, sincerity,
exuberance, and sheer joy in producing pictures. They also admired the naiveté
of these early artists. Rossetti was a pivotal figure in the PRB,
because, what he lacked in experience as a painter, he made up for in
his personal qualities as an advocate and thinker. William Rossetti said
that his brother gave "Shape and Tone" to the movement. The Brethren
were all, with the exception of Millais who lived at home with his
parents, short of money. In the course of their monthly meetings at each
others studios or homes, there was a real element of companionship, and
where some modest refreshment was supplied, like tea, or a few bottles
of beer this was regarded as a luxury. Rossetti And Elizabeth Siddall In The 1850s and 1860s In 1849 Rossetti exhibited at the Royal Academy his first major oil painting " The Girlhood of Mary Virgin," which was signed Dante Gabriele Rossetti PRB, and was, rather surprisingly, well-received. William Holman Hunt had given Rossetti a considerable amount of help and technical advice with his picture, as had F M Brown, who had regularly called in at the studio to see its progress. For all its manifest technical limitations it is a good Pre-Raphaelite picture, with scrupulous attention to detail, bright colours, and a naive two dimensional appearance, which owed something to the technical shortcomings and inexperience of the painter. The picture was bought direct from the exhibition by the Dowager Marchioness of Bath, to whom one of the painter's Polidori aunts was paid companion. The purchase price of £80.00 being coincidentally exactly the same as William Rossetti's initial yearly salary at the Inland Revenue. In 1850 Rossetti again exhibited at the RA, where his still immature picture "Ecce Ancilla Domini," which with its two figures and religious theme had much in common with his painting the previous year, but received abusive and derogatory reviews from most critics. From that time Rossetti ceased to exhibit in public. In 1850 Walter Howell Deverell accompanied his mother to a milliners shop near Leicester Square. Deverell, a friend of Rossetti, who was destined to die at the age of 26, noticed the striking appearance of one of the young women assistants. This young woman was Elizabeth Siddall, who became the painters muse, lover, and ultimately his wife. She had been born in 1829, to a Yorkshire family. After modeling for Millais's famous picture Ophelia, Lizzie exclusively sat for Rossetti. They spent much of their time together in a relationship which was intense, obsessive, and inward looking. Christina Rossetti composed the following sonnet about them in 1856: One
face looks out from all his canvases, He
feeds upon her face both day and night, Rossetti produced vast numbers of pencil drawings of her, which were marvelous in their quality and sensitivity. It is a strange fact that the failings of draughtsmanship which are so often apparent in his oil paintings were entirely absent in the drawings. Perhaps he could just not translate this brilliance to canvas, where he was essentially a colourist. Throughout the 1850s and early 1860s, Rossetti painted mainly in watercolours, in which he felt that his technical deficiencies were less apparent. There is a strong body of opinion that these watercolours were his best work. Jewel-like and highly individual as they are I just cannot agree with this, and prefer the later oil paintings warts and all. During the 1850s the relationship between the painter and the milliner continued. William Rossetti recalled that most of Lizzie's conversation was trivial with a tinge of sarcasm, but he thought that she was a woman of considerable intellect. He felt that her triviality was a defence mechanism, and that she did not wish to be really known, understood, or let anyone become close to her. In 1858 and 1859 the relationship between Rossetti and Lizzie lost some of its former intensity and exclusivity-he had other sitters including Jane Morris, and Fanny Cornforth had become his housekeeper and mistress. In 1860 Lizzie was staying on the South Coast, and was extremely ill. Rossetti visited her, and must have felt compelled to regularise their connection. She was just well enough for them to be married on May 23rd 1860 at St Clements Church, Hastings. During their short marriage Lizzie was constantly ill, and no member of their immediate circle believed she would live long. A Doctor Acland, who was consulted on the advice of John Ruskin (an admirer and financial sponsor of hers), felt that some of her problems were psycho-somatic, he said "that her mental powers were long pent up and lately over-taxed. William Rossetti says that there was some evidence of consumption, and that she had neuralgia. It is not easy for us to realise what a major problem neuralgia was in the 19th century, before the invention of modern pain-killers-it was not possible to control the pain and it had a long-term debilitating effect on many sufferers. In his book Dante Gabriel Rossetti Russell Ash speculates that Lizzie was suffering from Anorexia which does make some sense. Before we finish with the tragic figure of this young women I think that I should mention some positive facets of her character. John Ruskin was very fond of her and regarded her as talented. She enjoyed a good relationship with Ford Madox Brown and his second wife Emma. Georgiana Burne-Jones, not always the most tolerant of people much enjoyed her company. Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909), a major 19th century English poet adored her and she him. He loved her for her intellect and company and said "She was a wonderful as well as most lovable creature." In May
1861 Elizabeth Rossetti gave birth to a stillborn daughter. On the 10th
February 1862 she dined out with her husband and Swinburne, returned
home early, and took a massive overdose of laudanum. She died the next
day without regaining consciousness. Ford Madox Brown who was sent for
by the frantic Rossetti on finding his wife in a coma, removed a note
pinned to her nightdress asking that her younger brother, who was not
fully mentally developed, be looked after. The inquest returned a
verdict of Accidental Death. She was buried in the Rossetti family plot
in Highgate Cemetery. Rossetti placed in her coffin the greater part of
his poems which were ready for publication. Following the death of his wife Rossetti moved to Tudor House in Cheyne Walk which was his home for the rest of his life. He shared the house with Swinburne and George Meredith (1828-1909 the poet and novelist), and his brother William lived there for three nights each week. William found that the atmosphere was not conducive to working in the evenings, which he needed to do as he had become a respected and well-known art critic, as well as a career civil servant. Rossetti gradually recovered from the death of his wife, but in truth this recovery was never complete and he suffered agonies of guilt which compounded his problems by causing insomnia. Rossetti returned to a boyhood interest in animals creating a small menagerie in the garden of his house. Creatures he kept included a kangaroo, and his particular favourite wombats. The noise and inconvenience caused to his neighbours was such that landlords introduced clauses in subsequent tenancy agreements specifically forbidding the keeping of such creatures. These clauses remain in force today, giving the painter a strange form of immortality. During Rossetti's marriage Fanny Cornforth had married a man named Hughes, who had also unfortunately died. She was re-installed at Cheyne Walk as housekeeper cum mistress. In the mid 1860s Rossetti used Fanny Cornforth as his model for a number of pictures. This afternoon, as I write this article, I have been to The Barber Institute in Birmingham to look at the most famous of these pictures "The Blue Bower" which is lavishly coloured, rather claustrophobic, and shows the sitter's earthy and very sexual attractiveness to advantage. (Also on display incidentally, was a striking portrait of William Rossetti dating from 1895.) The relationship between the painter and this sitter is interesting. Fanny Cornforth was a rather basic London girl, whose morality had been compromised during her adult life by the need to eat regularly and survive, a common experience for many unfortunate young women at that time. She was somewhat grasping financially, and when she ultimately left Rossetti misappropriated some of his property. But all in all she was a better influence on him than the two great loves of his life, Elizabeth Siddall and Jane Morris. She had an earthy affectionate nature, and, as George Price Boyce mentioned an engaging disposition. She must have been a valuable antidote to his feelings of guilt and depression and, as well as injecting a valuable element of reality to his dream world. The painter was, of course, very largely Italian, but he never actually visited Italy, regarded himself as an Englishman, and shared many of the prejudices and attitudes of conventional Englishmen of the day. Rossetti was known to use the services of prostitutes at times, and would doubtless have felt very sinful because of this. He certainly shared the Victorian male attitude of the wife as the angel of the fireside, and another woman as the whore with whom a man had sexual pleasure. Had he been more Italian and less English he may have led a much less tortured life. Rossetti's output of watercolours gradually dwindled at this time, as he concentrated on oils. These are the paintings are those with for which he is most famous. They are of women, usually alone, in constricted backgrounds, lavishly dressed, with their features stylised. These paintings lack perspective, are highly decorative, richly coloured and sometimes have his verse the frame, as he tried to integrate art and poetry. Rossetti regarded these works as his main achievement, but many critics have disagreed, preferring his earlier watercolours. To nail my colours firmly to the mast I also believe that these were his greatest works. Unhappily these pictures also form a record of the mental disturbance and decline of a great human being-Dante Gabriel Rossetti paid a fearful price for his art. Rossetti and Jane Morris From the mid 1860s Rossetti's relationship with Jane Morris grew, deepened, and, I think, became sexual. He had first met her in 1858, when painting the unsuccessful murals at the Oxford Union. She was then eighteen years of age, and the daughter of a groom in an Oxford livery stable. There was strong mutual attraction at that time, but Rossetti felt, and was, obligated to the ailing Elizabeth Siddall. Rossetti had taken a joint tenancy of Kelmscott Manor with William Morris in 1871, and he and Jane spent considerable periods of time alone together there. I remember standing in Jane's bedroom there a few years ago, wishing very much that the walls could speak. For the rest of his life he painted pictures featuring Jane, the ultimate Pre-Raphaelite woman. William Morris had a strong will and considerable pride, and as he made plain in his poetry, deeply loved his wife. I have often wondered why, then, he accepted Jane's adulterous relationship with Rossetti. I feel that the likeliest explanation is that, with his strong socialist principles, he did not feel that he owned his wife, and that she was free to make her own decisions. In the early 1870s Rossetti produced some of his greatest work both in art and verse. But simultaneously his mental condition deteriorated and his addiction to chloral and alcohol became greater. He made, on at least two occasions, suicide attempts. In 1874 William Morris, understandably declined to renew his shared lease of Kelmscott, which made it virtually impossible for Jane and Rossetti to continue their relationship in the same way. The following year Jane finally recognised the extent of her lover's addiction to chloral, and brought their relationship to a close. For the rest of his life the couple corresponded in the most friendly terms, but their great love affair was over. The Last Years of The Life of Rossetti In the last few years of his life Rossetti left his home at Cheyne Walk infrequently, and rather like the painter Albert Joseph Moore an exaggerated idea has gained credence regarding the solitariness of his life. He continued to meet friends at Cheyne Walk, and many well-known figures from the world where regular visitors. In late 1881 Rossetti's health deteriorated sharply, and in February 1882 he rented a bungalow at Birchington-on-Sea to recuperate, but it was now too late and he died on April 9th, with his eighty two year old mother, sister Christina, and brother William at his bedside. He was buried in the churchyard of All Saints Parish Church, under a striking Celtic cross designed by Ford Madox Brown. Rossetti and Lord Leighton Lord Leighton, as President of The Royal Academy was very much the right man at the right time. He was assiduous in promoting the interests of the Academy, and was keenly aware of artistic developments and rising artists outside the ranks of Academicians and Associates. Leighton therefore suggested that he become a candidate for an Associateship of the RA. "Think not for one moment, my dear Mr. Rossetti, that I am insensible to the charm of a life as recluded as yours is, from the dust of the arena, from the mire of the market-place. Ah no!-I envy you your ivory tower. How often at some Council Meeting of the R.A. have I murmured within in me that phrase of Wordsworth's, "the world is too much with us"! But alas, in all of us there is a duality of nature. You, O felix minium are poet as well as painter. I, separated from my easel, am but a citizen. And the civistic passion-yes, passion, dear Mr. Rossetti-restrains the instinct of the artist in me towards solitude, and curbs the panting of the hart in me for the water-brooks. I feel that I have, in conjunction with my colleagues, a duty to the nation. To improve the taste of the sovereign, the taste of her ever genial first-born and of his sweet and gracious consort, of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the faithful Commons, of the Judicial Bench, of those who direct the Army and Navy and Reserve Forces, of our merchant princes in Threadneedle Street and of our squires in the Shires, and through those to bring light and improvement to those toiling millions on whom ultimately the glory of Great Britain rests-all this is in me an ambition not to be stifled and an aspiration not to be foregone. You smile, Mr. Rossetti, yet I am disemboldened to say to you now, as I have often wished to say to you, in the words of the Apostle Paul, "Come over and help us!" Our President-I grant you in confidence-is not of all men the most enlightened. But I, in virtue of what is left to me of youth and ardour, conjoined to the paltry gift of tact, have some little influence at Burlington House. Come now!-Let me put your name down in our Candidates Book." Further Reading about Rossetti Dante Gabriel
Rossetti, by Alicia Craig Faxon. The Blue Bower -
Rossetti in the 1860s, by Paul Spencer-Longhurst. This book is one of a series by Russell Ash about leading Victorian artists. Superficially it is a coffee table book, but the initial essay on Rossetti is excellent. The illustrations are vividly coloured. This book is very much a "buy." Buy it from Amazon.com or from Amazon.co.uk There are many other books available giving Rossetti available both at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com |
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