Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882)

Born in London, Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti was the son of a Italian literary scholar. He entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1845, where he met Deverell, Hunt and Millais and in 1848 took lessons in painting from Brown. Rossetti was the driving force in the formation of the P. R. B. in 1848. At the Free Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1849, Rossetti exhibited the first painting which bore the initials P. R. B.; heavily criticised, he abandoned oils for watercolour.

He translated Dante's 'Vita Nuova' in 1848 and published his first volume of poetry, 'The Early Italian Poets' (1861). He met Elizabeth Siddal in 1852; she became his model, pupil and eventually mistress. An introduction to John Ruskin in 1854 led to patronage for both Rossetti and Siddal. In 1859, Fanny Cornforth replaced Siddal as his model and mistress and he embarked on series of female subjects in oil. Reunited with Lizzie, they married in 1860 when Rossetti also became a partner in Morris's firm. Lizzie died tragically in 1862 and Rossetti placed the only manuscript of his poems in her coffin; these were exhumed and published seven years later. He painted 'Beata Beatrix' as a memorial to Lizzie. He became close to Jane Morris and in 1871 she inspired 'Proserpine'. Rossetti's retrieved 'Poems' were published in 1870; at first well received, they were later viciously attacked by Robert Buchanan in an article and pamphlet entitled 'The Fleshly School of Poetry'. Rossetti suffered a nervous breakdown in 1872 resorting to alcohol and drug abuse. He died ten years later.