In 1857, Pre-Raphaelite art changed direction when Rossetti was commisioned to decorate the walls of the Oxford Union building. He brought together a new group of artists to work on the commission, the most important of whom where William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, who was born in Birmingham and established an international reputation that none of the others achieved.
The dreamlike quality and fanciful medievalism of his work influenced the Symbolist movement in Europe towards the end of the century. Rossetti's later work became increasingly haunted by grief for his wife Lizzie Siddal, who died of an overdose of laudanum in 1862 and later, by his obsessive love for Jane Burden who married William Morris. Jane Morris's striking facial features and thick crinkled hair have become synonymous with the late Pre-Raphaelite style.
In 1857, Pre-Raphaelite art changed direction when Rossetti was commisioned to decorate the walls of the Oxford Union building. He brought together a new group of artists to work on the commission, the most important of whom where William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, who was born in Birmingham and established an international reputation that none of the others achieved.
The dreamlike quality and fanciful medievalism of his work influenced the Symbolist movement in Europe towards the end of the century. Rossetti's later work became increasingly haunted by grief for his wife Lizzie Siddal, who died of an overdose of laudanum in 1862 and later, by his obsessive love for Jane Burden who married William Morris. Jane Morris's striking facial features and thick crinkled hair have become synonymous with the late Pre-Raphaelite style. 
Late Style 
