Rossetti:

Stunning painter-poet

If one single man had been blessed with all virtues, I would pick Dante Gabrial Rossetti. The son of an Italian writer who was also a political refugee, Rossetti was a brilliantly gifted poet as well as a talented painter. He was remarkably handsome with deep blue grey eyes and flowing locks of auburn hair that framed his delicate face.

He possessed a personal magnetism which made it hard for people to tear away from him the moment they set their eyes upon him. Incredibly handsome, he was the centre of attraction in any company. With his dominant character, Rossetti was imperative, vehement and passionate but these qualities were only passing impulses that bore no grudge to any one.

With his dominant and charismatic personality, he was the driving force behind the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood when he was barely 20 years old. This Brotherhood was the secret society to reform British art. Rossetti never submitted to social conventions and after shocking the artistic establishment, he died an eccentric recluse.

Life and work

Rossetti was born in London on 12 May 1828 and grew up in the fashionable London among the remarkable families in Victorian England. His father had fled his native country after being sentenced to death in a revolutionary secret society because of his involvement in it. He settled in England in 1824 and two years later married Francess Mary Lavinia who bore him four children within four years. Dante Gabrial was the second. Each child was intellectually gifted. They were taught Italian and English. Rossetti senior taught Italian and in 1831 and became Professor of Italian at King’s College, London.

The young Rossetti had a choice between two brilliant careers both of which he would have mastered. At 14 Rossetti was sent to Sass’s Art School which was a drawing academy, a stepping stone to the Royal Academy Schools.

His three year period at Sass’s was longer than usual because he hated drawing from antique scupture and was an indolent pupil. The young Rossetti was a striking figure that made all take a closer look at him. He was not happy at the routine of the Royal Academy than he had been with that at Sass’s. He wrote to painter Madox Brown to take him over. After much debating and a stormy meeting with Rossetti, he was accepted as a informal pupil while he was still attached to the Royal Academy. Rossetti was disappointed when Brown tried to teach him the same skills both traditional and academic which he had already rejected. However, he was much impressed by the seriousness and literary inspirations of Brown that he remained Brown’s lifelong friend. As his twentieth birthday approached he still had not made up his mind whether he should make literature or painting his career. He sent some of his poems to the distinguished poet, Leigh Hunt for his opinion. He praised them warmly but sensible pointed out that it was much harder to make a living as a poet than a painter. ‘If you paint as well as you write, you may be a rich man’ Hunt advised.

So, he laid down his pen and picked up his brush.

His friendship with two fellow students at the Royal Academy, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais grew in a strong bondage though the three were wildly different. But they shared a common dismay at the state of British art. The three decided to do away with the morbid, dull 16th century master, Raphael. So, Rossetti, Millais and Hunt opted to call themselves ‘Pre-Raphaelites’. They took this decision in order to express their rejection of the lifeless artistic convention which they saw as stemming from Raphael. The Pre-Raphaelites were joined by Rossetti’s brother, and three other friends.

The Girlhood of Marry Virgin was Rossetti’s first major painting. He met his future wife, Elizabeth Siddal around this time. She was a beautiful creature, tall finely framed with lofty neck and lavish wealth of golden hair. Her sad and soulful good-looks made her the perfect model for Rossetti and Pre-Raphaelites. Later, she became a painter and poet. She died of an overdose of Laudanum. The widowed Rossetti moved from Black friar to the Grand Tudor House in Chelsea where his longtime mistress, Fanny Cornforth who became his mistress again, housekeeper as well as model. His paintings of her were more richly, sensuous than those of the ethereal Elizabeth. They sold well and he earned more than 3000 Sterling Pounds an year.

In 1872, he was wealthy enough to employ assistants, suffered a physical collapse. He had been drinking heavily while taking anesthetic drug to stave off insomnia. Although he recovered, his last ten years were spent as a virtual recluse in Chelsea. Alcohol and drugs took hold of him preventing his work schedules. Ill, depressed and lonely most of the time, he rarely left his house other than to visit his friend, Madox Brown, his sister and mother.

Rossetti went into convalesce at Birchington-on-sea where he died on Easter Sunday, 9 April, 1882. He was buried in the churchyard of Birchington. Rossetti was 53 when he died.

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