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diff --git a/43347-0.txt b/43347-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3777ec --- /dev/null +++ b/43347-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1182 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43347 *** + + MASTERPIECES + IN COLOUR + EDITED BY - - + T. LEMAN HARE + + + ROSSETTI + + 1828--1882 + + + + +"MASTERPIECES IN COLOUR" SERIES + + + ARTIST. AUTHOR. + VELAZQUEZ. S. L. BENSUSAN. + REYNOLDS. S. L. BENSUSAN. + TURNER. C. LEWIS HIND. + ROMNEY. C. LEWIS HIND. + GREUZE. ALYS EYRE MACKLIN. + BOTTICELLI. HENRY B. BINNS. + ROSSETTI. LUCIEN PISSARRO. + BELLINI. GEORGE HAY. + FRA ANGELICO. JAMES MASON. + REMBRANDT. JOSEF ISRAELS. + LEIGHTON. A. LYS BALDRY. + RAPHAEL. PAUL G. KONODY. + HOLMAN HUNT. MARY E. COLERIDGE. + TITIAN. S. L. BENSUSAN. + MILLAIS. A. LYS BALDRY. + CARLO DOLCI. GEORGE HAY. + GAINSBOROUGH. MAX ROTHSCHILD. + TINTORETTO. S. L. BENSUSAN. + LUINI. JAMES MASON. + FRANZ HALS. EDGCUMBE STALEY. + VAN DYCK. PERCY M. TURNER. + LEONARDO DA VINCI. M. W. BROCKWELL. + RUBENS. S. L. BENSUSAN. + WHISTLER. T. MARTIN WOOD. + HOLBEIN. S. L. BENSUSAN. + BURNE-JONES. A. LYS BALDRY. + VIGÉE LE BRUN. C. HALDANE MACFALL. + CHARDIN. PAUL G. KONODY. + FRAGONARD. C. HALDANE MACFALL. + MEMLINC. W. H. J. & J. C. WEALE. + CONSTABLE. C. LEWIS HIND. + RAEBURN. JAMES L. CAW. + JOHN S. SARGENT. T. MARTIN WOOD. + LAWRENCE. S. L. BENSUSAN. + DÜRER. H. E. A. FURST. + MILLET. PERCY M. TURNER. + WATTEAU. C. LEWIS HIND. + HOGARTH. C. LEWIS HIND. + MURILLO. S. L. BENSUSAN. + WATTS. W. LOFTUS HARE. + INGRES. A. J. FINBERG. + +_Others in Preparation._ + + + + + [Illustration: PLATE I.--THE DAYDREAM + + From the oil painting (61½ in. by 35 in.) painted in 1880 and + first exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1883. (Frontispiece) + + This picture was painted from Mrs. William Morris and was left to + South Kensington by Constantine Ionidès, Esq.] + + + + + ROSSETTI + + BY LUCIEN PISSARRO + + ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT + REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR + + [Illustration: IN + SEMPITERNUM.] + + LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK + NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Plate + I. The Daydream Frontispiece + From the Ionidès Collection at South Kensington + Museum + Page + II. Ecce Ancilla Domini 14 + From the Oil Painting In the Tate Gallery + + III. Dante drawing the Angel 24 + From the Water-Colour in the Taylorian Museum, + Oxford + + IV. Beata Beatrix 34 + From the Oil Painting in the Tate Gallery + + V. The Bower Meadow 40 + From the Oil Painting in the collection of the late Sir + John Milburn, Bart., Acklington, Northumberland + + VI. The Borgia Family 50 + From the Water-Colour In South Kensington Museum + + VII. Dante's Dream 60 + From the Oil Painting in the Walker Art Gallery, + Liverpool + + VIII. Astarte Syriaca 70 + From the Oil Painting in the Manchester Art Gallery + + + + +[Illustration: Rossetti] + +I + + +About the middle of the nineteenth century Europe woke to the fact that +Art, despite its pretention, had lost all touch with tradition and, +like a blind man deprived of his staff, stood fumbling for direction. +The necessary "point d'appui" took shape in a return to nature. This +return was effected by very different means according to the country +and artistic milieu in which it occurred. In England it was really a +revival of the schools of painting that preceded Raphael and resulted +in grafting the complicated passions of our century upon the naïve +outlook of the early Italians. The more logical mind of the Frenchman +saw that it was not enough to look at nature through the eyes of the +Primitives. The point of view had perforce changed and all that it +was necessary to borrow from the early schools was the sincerity they +brought to the interpretation of phenomena. + +We have been told that, in contrast to the continental movement, the +realism of the Pre-Raphaelites was applied only to noble subjects. But +what is a noble subject? The distinction is a purely literary one. +There are no noble subjects in art; there are only harmonies of line +and colour. For example this school would prefer the rose to the +cabbage as a subject, on account of the symbols attached to it. It is +the Queen of Flowers, the Mystic Rose, &c., &c. But is the rose greater +than the cabbage from a purely pictorial point of view? It depends +entirely upon how far the painter is able to reveal the beauty, the +harmony of form and colour of either. The symbolistic appanage of the +rose will not suffice of itself to make a picture, nor for the lack of +these symbols may we condemn the cabbage. + +The realism of the Pre-Raphaelites developed an absorption in detail, +a "bit by bit" painting that was too often detrimental to the whole. +In the best works of the early Italians the unity is, in spite of that +attention to detail, admirably maintained--in other words the values +are preserved. It was not long, however, before Rossetti quitted the +path of the Pre-Raphaelites for a broader one. His paintings are +entirely symbolistic, therefore literary. Given the personality of an +artist equally gifted as painter and poet, this need not surprise us. +Indeed, seeing that Rossetti's pictorial conceptions are exclusively +literary, he might be considered as more dominantly a writer than a +painter; and this is the light in which he saw himself. We might say +he painted "sentiments" and add that sentiment is the property of +literature, but in Rossetti's case they have at least the advantage of +intensity. They come straight from life, for all his art is more or +less connected with the tragedy of his own existence. Herein lies the +value of Rossetti's works as artistic creations. + + + + +II + + +Rossetti's family, as his name indicates, was of Italian origin. His +ancestors on his father's side belong to Vasto d'Ammone, a small city +of the Abruzzi. The original name of the family was Della Guardia. +Probably the diminutive Rossetti was given to some red-haired ancestor +and retained in spite of the disappearance of that peculiarity. The +grandfather of the poet, Dominico Rossetti, was in the iron trade, +his son Gabriel Rossetti, born at Vasto, became a custodian of the +Bourbon Museum at Naples. He was an ardent patriot and one of the group +of reformers who obtained a constitution from Ferdinand, King of the +Two Sicilies, in 1820. The return of the King with the Austrian army +obliged Gabriel Rossetti, who was compromised by his actions as well +as by his patriotic songs, to make his escape from Italy. He did this +by the help of the English admiral, commanding the fleet in the bay. +Indeed he left Italy disguised in an English uniform. + + [Illustration: PLATE II.--ECCE ANCILLA DOMINI + + From the oil painting (28½ in. by 17 in.) painted in 1850 and is + now in the Tate Gallery + + This picture was first exhibited in 1850 at the "Free Exhibition" + in Portland Place. It was very slightly retouched in 1873 for the + then owner, Mr. Graham. It is rightly considered the most typical of + Rossetti's "Pre-Raphaelite" period.] + +After passing three years in Malta (1822-1825), he came to England +bearing introductions from John Hookham Frere, then Governor of Malta. +A year after his arrival he married Frances Mary Livinia Polidori, +whose mother was an English lady of the name of Pierce, while her +father was Gaetano Polidori, the translator of Milton. Gabriel Rossetti +was appointed Professor of Italian literature at King's College in +1831; but owing to the failure of his eyesight he had to resign that +position in 1845. He died nine years after, on April 26th, 1854. +He is the author of several works, the best known in England are: +_Comento analitico sulla Divina Commedia_ (1826-1827); _Sullo Spirito +Anti-Papale_ (1832); and _Il Mistero dell' Amor Platonic_ (1840). In +Italy, particularly in his own province, his name is held in veneration +for services in the cause of liberty. He had four children, the eldest, +Maria Francesca, the author of "A Shadow of Dante," died in 1876. +Dante Gabriel was the second and was born the 12th of May 1828 at 38 +Charlotte Street, Great Portland Place, London. William Michael was the +third, and Christina was the youngest. + +Very little is known of the early life of Rossetti. He received some +instruction at a private school in Foley Street, Portland Place, +studying there from the autumn of 1836 to the summer of 1837. He was +afterwards sent to King's College School. There he learned Latin, +French, and a little Greek. Naturally enough he knew Italian very well +from home and also a little German. In his home surroundings the young +child's taste for literature was developed very early; at five years +old he wrote a drama called "The Slave." Towards his thirteenth year he +began a romantic tale in prose, "Roderick and Rosalba." Somewhere about +1843 he wrote a legendary tale entitled "Sir Hugh Le Heron," founded on +a tale by Allan Cunningham. His grandfather Gaetano Polidori printed +it himself for private circulation, but the work contains no sign of +his ultimate development and has been justly omitted from his collected +works. Soon the wish to be a painter took possession of Dante Gabriel +and, on leaving school, he began his technical education in art at +Cary's Academy in Bloomsbury. In 1846 he joined the classes of the +Antique School of the Royal Academy. It is worth pointing out that +he never followed the Life School of that institution. Conventional +methods of study were distasteful to him. He decided to throw up the +Academy training and wrote to a painter, not very well known at that +date but whose work he admired, asking to be admitted to his studio +as a pupil. The painter was Madox Brown, and young Rossetti, given +his needs and mode of thought, could not have chosen a more suitable +master. Madox Brown was only seven years older than Rossetti, but he +had studied at Ghent, Antwerp, Paris, and Rome. He had exhibited some +fine cartoons during the early forties for the decoration of the House +of Lords. Among these was one that Rossetti had greatly admired at the +exhibition of the competitive cartoons in Westminster Hall. It was +"Harold's body brought before William the Conqueror." In March 1848 +Rossetti entered upon his new experience and Madox Brown agreed to +teach him painting, not for a fee but for the mere pleasure of meeting +and training a sympathetic spirit. Rossetti did not long remain a +regular attendant in the studio. He left after a few months. + +On the opening day of the exhibition (May 1848), "Rossetti," says +Mr. Hunt, "came up boisterously and in loud tongue made me feel very +confused by declaring that mine was the best picture of the year. The +fact that it was from Keats ('The Eve of St. Agnes') made him extra +enthusiastic, for, I think, no painter had ever before painted from +that wonderful poet, who then, it may scarcely be credited, was little +known." Rossetti wished so earnestly to become more intimate with Hunt +that he agreed to work with him, sharing a studio that the latter had +just taken in Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square. Here he began to paint +his first composition, having hitherto done no more than studies, +sketches, a number of portraits, some of which reveal excellent work. +At this time his literary development was somewhat ahead of his +artistic growth. He had already translated the _Vita Nuova_ which +is alone a monumental achievement, introducing wonderfully into the +English the warmth of the southern language; and he had written some +of his best known poems, including "The Blessed Damozel," "My Sister's +Sleep," "The Portrait," a considerable portion of "Ave," "A last +Confession," and the "Bride's Prelude." + +Millais and Holman Hunt, whose friendship dated from the Academy +Schools, found ground for sympathetic union with Rossetti in their +common distaste for contemporary art. They were convinced it was +necessary to abandon the conventional style of the day and return to +a severe and conscientious study of nature. They were for a while +uncertain as to the path to pursue. Where should they turn for precept +and guidance on the line of their new-found principles? Looking through +a book of engravings from the Campo Santo of Pisa one day at Millais' +house, they thought they had found there the direction they sought. +Mr. Holman Hunt tells us that the foundation of the Pre-Raphaelite +Brotherhood was the immediate result of coming across the book at that +particular time. + +While Holman Hunt was painting "Rienzi swearing revenge over his +brother's corpse," and Millais, "Lorenzo and Isabella," Rossetti began +his "Girlhood of Mary Virgin." As can well be imagined that first +composition gave him endless trouble and was the cause of the most +violent fits of alternate depression and energy. But the following +spring (1849), the three pictures were ready for exhibition. Millais +and Hunt were hung in the Royal Academy Exhibition and Rossetti's in +the so-called Free Exhibition, which was held in a gallery at Hyde +Park Corner. In the "Girlhood of Mary Virgin," he represents a room +in the Virgin's home with a balcony on which her father, St. Joachim, +is seen tending a vine which grows up towards the top of the picture. +On the right, against a dark green curtain, are the figures of St. +Anna and the Virgin sitting at an embroidery frame. The mother, in +dark green and brown garments with a dull red head-dress, is watching +with clasped hands the work in front of her. The young girl, a quite +unconventional Madonna dressed in grey, pauses with a needle in her +hand gazing in front of her at a child angel holding a white lily. +Underneath the pot in which the white lily grows are six big books +bearing the names of the six cardinal virtues. The figures, as well +as the dove which is perched on the trellis, bear halos, their names +being inscribed within. Rossetti painted his mother for St. Anna and +his sister Christina for the Virgin. Changing her dark brown hair to +golden, he broke a rule of the Brotherhood, which decrees that the +artist shall copy his model most scrupulously. The picture was signed +with his name, followed by the three letters P.R.B. Rossetti having +revealed the meaning of these three letters to a friend it was soon +generally known and no peace was given to those who dared to stand up +against traditional authority. It is necessary to explain that, at that +time, Raphael was considered the greatest of all painters. All who came +before him were ignored and a set of fixed rules supposed to have been +deduced from his work was taught in all the schools. The revolt of the +"Brethren" was directed much more against those rules than against +Raphael's work which, in all probability, they hardly knew. + + [Illustration: PLATE III.--DANTE DRAWING THE ANGEL + + From the water-colour (16½ in. by 24 in.) painted in 1853 and + first exhibited in the Pre-Raphaelite Exhibition at Russell + Place in 1857. It is now in the Taylorian Museum at Oxford + + The subject of this water-colour is taken from the following passage + in the Vita Nuova: + + "On that day which fulfilled the year since my lady had been made + of the citizens of eternal life, remembering me of her as I sat + alone, I betook myself to draw the resemblance of an angel upon + certain tablets. And while I did thus, chancing to turn my head I + perceived that some were standing beside me, to whom I should have + given courteous welcome, and that they were observing what I did: + also I learned afterwards that they had been there awhile before I + perceived them. Perceiving whom, I arose for salutation and said: + 'Another was with me.'" + + The same incident has been commemorated by Robert Browning in his + "One Word More."] + +At about the same time that he painted "Mary's Girlhood," Rossetti did +a portrait in oils of his father, his first work of this kind. He also +drew an outline design of a lute player and his lady, a subject taken +from Coleridge's "Genevieve"; a pen-and-ink drawing of "Gretchen in +the Chapel," with Mephistopheles whispering in her ear, and "The Sun +may shine and we be cold," a sketch of a girl near a window, apparently +a prisoner. To this period also belongs the important pen-and-ink +drawing, "Il Saluto di Beatrice," representing in two parts the meeting +of Dante and Beatrice, first in a street of Florence and secondly in +Paradise. + +The most important of Rossetti's Pre-Raphaelite work during the two +years following 1848 is the "Ecce Ancilla Domini," quite in keeping in +sentiment with the picture of the previous year. Both these pictures +are a little timid in treatment. In the "Ecce Ancilla Domini," the +Virgin clad in white is sitting on her bed, as if just awakened, and +sees with awe the full length of an angel, also clad in white, floating +in front of her and holding a white lily in his hand. The walls are +white but there is a blue curtain behind the Virgin's head and a red +embroidery on its frame is standing in the foreground at the foot +of the bed. The drapery of the angel is a little stiff and the whole +effect rather hard, but notwithstanding this youthful fault the whole +work is restrained and full of charm both in drawing and colour. + +This picture was exhibited in 1850 at the same Free Exhibition, which +was moved this year from Hyde Park Corner to Portland Place. + +The Pre-Raphaelites were now attacked by the press still more fiercely +than before, but they found a champion in Ruskin who took up their +defence in a series of letters to the _Times_, and in so doing laid +down an elaborate statement of principles. Thus it came about that the +broad and possibly nebulous ideas of the Brethren became transmuted +into hard and fast rules, which the young painters had to accept, +partly out of gratitude to their benefactor, partly because they agreed +with them. Rossetti painted only three pictures strictly according +to the Pre-Raphaelite rules. Curiously enough the best genuine +Pre-Raphaelite picture is "Work" by Ford Madox Brown, who not believing +in cliques refused to join the group. + +Round Rossetti were grouped his brother, William Michael, his sister +Christina, with Woolner, Collinson, Deverell, Millais, Hunt, Madox +Brown, William Bell Scott, and Coventry Patmore. Of all these Hunt and +Millais alone showed no inclination for writing. The group naturally +formed a school of literary thought of which "The Germ," originated by +Rossetti to propagate the ideas of the P.R.B., was the outcome. + +The cumbrous title "Monthly Thoughts in Literature, Poetry, and Art," +was first intended to be the title of this special publication of the +brotherhood, but at a meeting held in Rossetti's studio, 72 Newman +Street, in December 1849, when the first number was just ready for +publication it was decided to change the name for the simple title +"The Germ." This was proposed by Mr. Cave Thomas, an intimate friend of +the group. + +To the first number Rossetti contributed "My Sister's Sleep," and +a prose romance "Hand and Soul." Following numbers contained "The +Blessed Damozel," "The Carillon," "Sea limits" (under the title "From +the Cliffs"), and several sonnets. Only the first two numbers of the +publication were called "The Germ." The publication was known as "Art +and Poetry" in the third and fourth issues. + +"The Germ," as its short career showed, did not meet with success, +but it served to establish Rossetti's reputation among a small group +of artists and admirers. Rossetti's literary contributions were far +more matured than his paintings and it is surprising that they did +not attract more attention. "Hand and Soul" is specially valuable as +bearing a record of psychological experiences which gives a clear +glimpse of Rossetti's mind. + + + + +III + + +The storm of abuse caused by his two first pictures assisted a +natural inclination to give up his first source of religio-mystical +inspiration. Gradually the young painter groped his way towards +romantic subjects and discovered a rich mine of them in the works of +Browning, Dante, Keats, and the "Morte d'Arthur" of Malory. He may be +said to have found there the subjects of most of his compositions, and +his works inspired by these poets are delightfully full of originality +and ingenuity. + +He tried first a large canvas from the page's song in "Pippa Passes" +but had to abandon it. The composition of it remains in a little +painting called "Hist, said Kate the Queen," dated 1851. He executed +two other pen-and-ink designs from Browning entitled "Taurellos' first +sight of Fortune" and the "Laboratory," at about the same time. +Probably the latter was his first essay in water-colour, it is very +different from those for which he is popularly known. + +In "Beatrice at the Wedding Feast, denying her salutation to Dante," a +small water-colour of 1849 from the "Vita Nuova," the central figure is +a portrait of Miss Elizabeth Siddal who became acquainted with Rossetti +at about this date. She was the daughter of a Sheffield cutler and was +working in a milliner's shop. Walter Deverell discovered her one day, +when he was shopping with his mother. He persuaded her to sit for him +for his "Viola" and later to Rossetti. Her portrait can be seen in a +picture by Holman Hunt and in Millais' Ophelia. Miss Siddal sat for +most of the women in Rossetti's earliest and finest water-colours. + +To 1851 belongs the beautiful little composition called "Borgia," in +which Lucrezia can be seen dressed in an ample white gown brightened +all over with coloured ribbons and bows, sitting with a lute in her +hands. In the foreground two children are dancing. Leaning over her +left shoulder is the Pope Alexander VI., while her brother Cæsar stands +on the other side beating time with a knife against a wine-glass on the +table. + +Rossetti was not long in discovering that Miss Siddal had a strong +aptitude for art. With his special gift of influencing others the +position of model was soon merged into that of a pupil. Under his +guidance Miss Siddal made rapid progress and her water-colours show a +fine sense of colour. + +The sympathy between artist and pupil ripened into affection. The exact +date of their engagement is not known, but it was probably in 1853, +certainly not later than 1854, and was at first kept secret at Miss +Siddal's request. + +To the year 1854 belongs the water-colour, "King Arthur's Tomb," +in which Lancelot and Guenevere are seen bidding farewell over +the tomb of King Arthur; and to the following year belong the three +water-colours, "The Nativity," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," and the +"Annunciation," as well as the drawing for a wood-cut, illustrating a +poem called "The Maids of Elfen-Mere" by William Allingham. + + [Illustration: PLATE IV.--BEATA BEATRIX + + From the oil painting (34 in. by 27 in.) painted in 1863 for Lord + Mount-Temple, now in the Tate Gallery + + Though undoubtedly inspired by the death of his wife, the motive of + this picture was ostensibly taken from the Vita Nuova. The Latin + quotation inscribed on the frame, which was designed by Rossetti + himself, is taken from the following passage: + + "After this most gracious creature had gone out from among us, + the whole city came to be as it were widowed and despoiled of all + dignity. Then I, left mourning in this desolate city, wrote unto the + principal persons thereof, in an epistle, concerning its condition; + taking for my commencement those words of Jeremias: Quomodo sedet + sola civitas! etc." + + The date of the death of Beatrice is also inscribed on the frame.] + +The artistic and romantic force which had produced the Pre-Raphaelite +movement had another important work to do five or six years later, +when a fusion of two movements took place: the early Pre-Raphaelites +represented by Rossetti, Holman Hunt, and Millais, joined the later +movement inaugurated by Morris and Burne-Jones. The second of these +groups originated at Exeter College, Oxford. It took shape like the +first one in a revolt against the Art formulæ of the age. The Oxford +group, like the P.R.B., had a magazine to express their views. + +At Christmas 1855 Burne-Jones came up to London and was introduced to +Rossetti, whom he and Morris admired greatly. Rossetti contributed +"The Burden of Nineveh," and a little altered version of "The Blessed +Damozel" to the "Oxford and Cambridge Magazine," the organ of William +Morris. + +One year later Burne-Jones and Morris settled in London in rooms at 17 +Red Lion Square. Both young men were soon completely under Rossetti's +influence, and their studio became a sort of centre for all members +of his circle. There, in order to furnish and decorate these rooms, +the first essays in designing furniture were made. Rossetti painted a +pair of panels for a cabinet. He made use of the subject of his early +pen-and-ink drawing, "The Salutation of Beatrice," representing, in two +divisions, Dante meeting Beatrice in Florence and again in Paradise, +with a figure of Love standing between them in the midst of symbols. +Besides those panels Rossetti painted on the backs of two arm-chairs, +"Gwendolen in the Witch-tower" and the "Arming of a Knight," both +subjects from poems by William Morris. + +To 1857 belongs the charming series of water-colours acquired by +William Morris: "The Damsel of the St. Grael," "The Death of Breuse +sans pitié," "The Chapel before the Lists," "The Tune of Seven Towers," +and "The Blue Closet." The two last were special favourites with Morris +who used their romantic titles for two of his poems. This year also, he +painted the "Wedding of St. George," "The Gate of Memory," "The Garden +Bower," and a "Christmas Carol." + +During the vacation of 1857 Rossetti went to Oxford with Morris +to visit the architect, Benjamin Woodward, who was constructing a +debating-hall for the Union Society. Rossetti saw an opportunity +for mural decoration, and arrangements were made with the building +committee in charge that seven artists including Rossetti, Burne-Jones, +and Morris, should undertake the decoration gratuitously, the Union +only defraying their expenses at Oxford and providing all necessary +material. Rossetti took for subjects, "Launcelot asleep before the +Chapel of the Sanc Grael" and "Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Percival, +receiving the Sanc Grael." Before the pictures were finished they began +to fade, the walls having been badly prepared and Rossetti's designs +were never completed. + +While at Oxford, in the summer of 1857, at the theatre, Rossetti was +very much impressed one night by the striking beauty of Miss Burden, +the daughter of an Oxford resident. He obtained an introduction in +order to ask for sittings. A pen-and-ink head called "Queen Guinevere," +probably meant to replace the earlier studies done for "Launcelot at +the Shrine," was the first result of the new acquaintance. Several +years later, after the death of his wife, Miss Burden, then Mrs. +William Morris, again sat to Rossetti for several of his important +pictures. + + [Illustration: PLATE V.--THE BOWER MEADOW + + From the oil painting (32 in. by 25 in.) in the collection of the + late Sir John Milburn, Bart., Acklington, Northumberland + + Of this charming composition the landscape background was painted at + Sevenoaks in 1850, and the figures were added and the whole finished + in 1872.] + + + + +IV + + +On the 23rd of May 1860, the long delayed marriage of Rossetti to Miss +Siddal took place in St. Clement's Church, Hastings, and the married +couple went to Paris for their honeymoon. While staying there Rossetti +did two pen-and-ink drawings one of which called "How they meet +themselves," was done to replace the one made in 1851 and lost; the +other representing a scene from the "Life of Johnson" by Boswell, quite +an unusual subject for the artist. To the same year belongs the picture +representing Lucrezia Borgia washing her hands after preparing poison +for her husband the Duke Alphonso of Bisceglia. + +In 1861 Rossetti's translation from the Italian poets was at last +published with the "Vita Nuova" in a volume entitled "The Italian +Poets from Cuillo d'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100, 1200, 1300)." +The painter poet was enabled to publish this book through Messrs. +Smith, Elder & Co. by the generous assistance of Ruskin who advanced +£100 to the publisher, but the sale of the first edition was only just +sufficient to pay that sum back, leaving a balance of about £10 to the +author. He proposed to etch for the frontispiece a charming design of +which various pen-and-ink versions exist, but being displeased with the +plate he destroyed it. In the same year he painted a small portrait +of his wife called "Regina Cordium." The head with ruddy hair hanging +loose on the shoulders against a gold background, fills nearly all the +canvas and a hand is seen on the left side of the picture holding a +pansy. More than one replica of that portrait exists, and several heads +from different sitters are called "Regina Cordium." Another important +production of the year is "Cassandra." The subject is a scene on the +walls of Troy before Hector's last battle. He has been warned in +vain by the prophetess, who is seen leaning against a pillar, tearing +her clothes in despair. Hector is rushing down the steps, and the +whole composition is full of soldiers, every space being filled with +some incident related to the central subject, giving that aspect of +concentrated composition so special to Rossetti. + +The two years following his marriage (1860-1862) were amongst the +most prolific of Rossetti's life both in ideas and invention. Besides +"Cassandra" he planned the composition for a large picture which was +commissioned but never finished, representing Perseus with the Medusa's +head; and he made the first pencil studies for his famous "Beata +Beatrix." + +With 1862 is associated the water-colour, "Bethlehem Gate." It is +also about this time (1861-1862) that the now famous firm of Morris, +Marshall, Faulkner & Co. was established with the co-operation of +William Morris, Faulkner, Burne-Jones, Madox Brown, Webb, and others +as active members. + +The idea of the commercial attempt on the artistic lines to reform the +art of decoration and furniture-making was, says Mr. Mackail, largely +due to Madox Brown, but perhaps more to Rossetti, who, in spite of his +artistic qualities, was a very good business man and had the scent of +a trained financier for anything likely to pay. The little band of +original artists and designers took in hand tapestry, furniture, wall +papers, stained-glass, and later on, carpet weaving and dyeing. The +terms under which they worked were very simple. Each member was to be +paid for the work commissioned by the firm, and the profits were to be +divided in a proper ratio at the end. + +The new firm had plenty to do owing to the demand for ritual +decorations caused by the Anglo-Catholic movement. Amongst the first +commissions were those for adorning two new churches then being +built--St. Martin-on-the-Hill, Scarborough, and St. Michael at +Brighton. For the first one Rossetti made a design for two pulpit +panels and several windows. + +In dealing with stained-glass Rossetti who was specially gifted as +a decorator, understood his medium, and in making his design took +into account all the limitations of the material. He did not seek to +paint a picture on glass, but maintained that idea of a mosaic of +coloured-glass that is seen to so much advantage in the early _vitraux_. + +Amongst works designed by him for the firm Morris & Co. the following +may be mentioned: "Adam and Eve," two designs for stained-glass, and +"St. George and the Dragon," six designs for stained-glass. One of +them representing the princess drawing the fatal lot he painted as a +water-colour. "King Rene's Honeymoon," a design for one of four panels +representing the Arts, was done for a gothic cabinet that Mr. J. P. +Seddon ordered from Morris & Co. Rossetti's design for "Music" shows +the king bent over a chamber-organ kissing his bride while she is +playing. He designed also one of the minor panels "Gardening." There is +a water-colour of the same subject under the title of "Spring." "Amor, +Amans, Amata," were three small figures in ovals, done for the back of +a sofa, which Rossetti had made for himself. He kept it for many years +in his house at Chelsea. "Sir Tristran and la Belle Iseult drinking +the Love potion" was a fine design intended to be one of a series of +stained-glass windows. "King Rene's Honeymoon" was done for a series +of stained-glass windows. "The Annunciation" is a design for a window, +quite different from the early version of the same subject. "Threshing" +is a design for a glazed tile. "The Sermon on the Mount" was done for a +memorial window in Christ Church, Albany Street, erected in 1869 to the +memory of his aunt, Miss Polidori. + +In either 1861 or 1862 Rossetti designed two illustrations for his +sister Christina's book of poems "Goblin Market." They were engraved on +wood and appear in Messrs. Macmillan's edition. + +In May 1861 Mrs. Rossetti gave birth to a still-born child. Her +recovery was slow, and this trouble did not improve her consumptive +tendencies. She suffered, too, from a very severe form of neuralgia, +for which laudanum was prescribed. + +On the night of the 11th of February 1862 she took an overdose and +Rossetti, returning home from lecturing at the Working Men's College, +found her dying. In a terrible state of anxiety, after seeking one +doctor after another, he called in Madox Brown for help, but all in +vain. The following morning his wife died, after only two years of +married life. The grief of Rossetti was overwhelming and the touching +scene in which he buried the manuscript of his poems with his beloved +wife has been told many a time. + + + + +V + + +After this tragic event Rossetti could no longer live in the rooms +he had occupied at Chatham Place. He looked for some others, living +meanwhile for a few months in a house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Then he +took a lease of the house at No. 16 Cheyne Walk, sharing it at first +with Swinburne and Meredith. Mr. Meredith did not stay long and after +awhile Mr. Swinburne also gave up his tenancy, leaving Rossetti sole +occupant of the premises. + +One of the last works he did before his misfortune, and the last +picture for which his wife sat to him, was the water-colour of "St. +George and the Princess Sabra." For sometime after the blow of his +wife's death he was idle. The first things he did after his recovery +was a crayon portrait of his mother (1862) followed by "The Girl at +a Lattice," "Joan of Arc," and a replica of his early "Paolo and +Francesca." + + [Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE BORGIA FAMILY + + From the water-colour painted in 1873 and lately purchased by the + South Kensington Museum + + Rossetti first painted this subject in 1851--a smaller size 9½ by 10 + in. It is one of the richest of his small compositions.] + +The celebrated picture of "Beata Beatrix," now in the Tate Gallery +is dated 1863, but was finished later, being only partly painted in +that year. In Rossetti's own words the following is a description of +the picture: "The picture illustrates the _Vita Nuova_, embodying +symbolically the death of Beatrice as treated in that work. The +picture is not intended at all to represent death, but to render it +under the semblance of a trance in which Beatrice, seated at a balcony +overlooking the city, is suddenly rapt from earth to heaven...." + +The whole strikes a sombre note apart from its symbolic representation +through its delicious purple harmony. The city in the sunset light +in the distance, supposed to be Florence, is very like London in +atmospheric effect. Beatrice is seen sitting at the balcony against +the sunset background, with the light playing round her golden auburn +hair, in fashion suggesting an aureole. She is dressed in green with +dull purple sleeves. A bright red bird holding in its beak a dim purple +poppy, emblem of death, is flying towards her. In the misty distance +the figures of Dante and Love are watching her. Rossetti painted in +1872 a replica of that picture, adding to the main subject the meeting +of Dante and Beatrice in Paradise, with maidens bearing instruments +of music. He was rather reluctant to send out that replica, but the +unwillingness was overcome. He painted several others, none of them +being equal in quality to the original. + +In 1863 Rossetti painted an oil picture called "Helen of Troy," and the +last of the St. George subjects, representing St. George killing the +dragon, which is a water-colour version of the stained-glass series. +Then come three small subjects, "Belcolore," a girl in a circular frame +biting a rosebud. Of this there is a red chalk study and a water-colour +version, "Brimfull," a water-colour showing a lady stooping to sip +from a full glass, and a picture called "A Lady in Yellow." + +Rossetti now gave up painting those quaint little romantic subjects +so intense in literary feeling and dramatic expression, and devoted +himself to large single figures upon a background of rich accessories. + +When a painter makes a single figure the central interest of his +picture, he must, to a certain extent, avail himself of psychological +facts in the model before him, for if he recognises no limits to the +foreign sentiment and character he may impose, he will, little by +little, fall to the creation of a type which is not far short of a +monstrosity. Although the first of his pictures in this new style +are among his finest works we see this inevitable degeneration in +Rossetti's latest paintings. + +The first pictures of this kind and some of the best are, "Fazio's +Mistress," and "Lady Lilith." The former is dated 1863, but was +altered and repainted ten years later, and Rossetti changed its +title to "Aurelia." In 1864 he painted the latter which is a modern +conception of that first wife of Adam mentioned in the old Talmudic +Legend. The Lady Lilith is seated against a background covered with +roses. Dressed in white, she holds a mirror in her hand, and combs her +long fair hair. Although dated 1864 it was really not finished until +1867. The face as it is now was repainted in 1873 from a different +model, and is said to be quite inferior to the former one. Rossetti at +that time seemed to be a victim of a mania for repainting his earlier +work. + +The next great picture, begun in 1864, is "Venus Verticordia," the oil +version of which was not finished before 1868. It represents the nude +bust of a massively built woman surrounded by roses and honeysuckle. +She holds an arrow in her right hand and in the left an apple on which +a yellow butterfly has alighted. The face is conventionally pretty and +lacks character. + +"Morning Music," an elaborate little water-colour; "Monna Pomona," a +girl holding an apple with roses on her lap and in a basket at her +side; "How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Percival received the Holy +Grael" (done in his earlier manner); "Roman de la Rose," a water-colour +version of the earlier panel, and "The Madness of Ophelia," represent +the remaining production of 1864. + +There is little to mention in 1865. The most important productions +of that year were "The Blue Bower," and "The Merciless Lady." In the +"Merciless Lady," a water-colour in the style of his earlier romantic +manner, a man sits on a bank of turf between two maidens, with a sunlit +meadow behind. He seems attracted by the one on his left who is fair +and plays a lute, the other, his lady love, holds his hand and with a +sad expression tries to win him back to her. "A Fight for a Woman," +the composition of which is of a very early date, and the oil-painting, +"Bella e Buona," but renamed "Il Ramoscello," were also painted in 1865. + +After these came "The Beloved," finished in 1866, but worked again in +1873, this time without being spoiled. In writing to the owner of this +picture Rossetti said: "I mean it to be like jewels," and he carried +out his intention. In the middle of the picture is the fair-haired +bride radiant in rich stuffs, her gown is green, with large sleeves +embroidered in gold and red. She is surrounded by four dark-haired +maidens, on the foreground a little negro, adorned with a head-band +and a necklace showing the beautiful invention of Rossetti's taste in +decorative art, is holding a golden vase of roses. + +Next comes the "Monna Vanna," which represents a lady dressed in a +magnificent embroidered robe with large sleeves, holding a fan of +black and yellow plumes. Her luxuriant hair is falling from each side +of her face on to her shoulders, a bunch of roses is seen in a vase on +the left top corner of the picture. + +"The Sibylla Palmifera," and "Monna Vanna," were not completed before +1870. The latter represents a Sibyl sitting underneath a stone canopy, +which is carved on one side with a cupid's head wreathed with roses, +and on the other with a skull crowned with red poppies. The Sibyl is +clad in crimson, her brown hair is parted and falling each side of +her face, a green coif spreads from her head over her shoulder and +she holds a palm-leaf in her hand. There is a replica of the head of +"Sibylla Palmifera." In the same year (1866) he painted in oils a +portrait of his mother, and made a large crayon drawing of his sister +Christina. He also made two illustrations for her volume of poems, "The +Prince's Progress." + +In 1867 Rossetti painted in oils "The Christmas Carol," of which +a crayon study exists; "Monna Rosa," and the "Loving Cup." For the +water-colour, "The Return of Tibullus to Delia," there are numerous +sketches made from Miss Siddal sitting on a couch biting a tress of +her hair, which show that the design must have been of a much earlier +date. The water-colours, "Aurora," "Tessa la Bionda;" the crayons, +"Magdalene," "Peace," "Contemplation," and the crayon replica, "Venus +Verticordia," bear the same date. + +Unfortunately about this time Rossetti began to have serious trouble +with his eyesight, and had probably to reduce his hours of work. +All the same in 1868 he painted a portrait of Mrs. Morris, who has +kindly lent it to the Tate Gallery, where it can now be seen. Several +chalk crayon studies have been done for this portrait. Then he began +the picture of "The Daydream," representing Mrs. Morris sitting on +the lower branches of a sycamore tree, a replica in water-colour +of "Bocca Baciate," called "Bionda del Balcone"; "The Rose," a +water-colour; a crayon drawing, "Aurea Catena," some studies for "La +Pia," which was begun about this time, and a water-colour replica of +"Venus Verticordia." + + [Illustration: PLATE VII.--DANTE'S DREAM + + From the oil painting (7 ft. 1 by 10 ft. 6½) now in the Walker + Art Gallery, Liverpool + + This picture which is considered by some to be Rossetti's most + important work, illustrates the following passage in the Vita Nuova: + + "Then my heart that was so full of love said unto me: 'Is it true + that our lady lieth dead'; and it seemed to me that I went to look + upon the body wherein that blessed and most noble spirit had had its + abiding-place. And so strong was this idle imagining, that it made + me behold my lady in death, whose head certain ladies seemed to be + covering with a white veil." + + This picture, painted in 1871, passed through several hands and was + taken back by Rossetti from Mr. Valpy, on account of its large size + in exchange for several smaller works. It was eventually bought by + the Liverpool corporation. + + Rossetti first treated this subject in a little water-colour painted + for Miss Heaton in 1856.] + +Rossetti had now reached his fortieth year and for about a twelvemonth +had been suffering from insomnia. This was the cause of the break-up of +his health, for to gain relief he acquired the habit of taking chloral, +a drug of which the properties were then little known. + + + + +VI + + +During a visit to Penkill the thought of publishing his early poems +occurred to him. Towards the end of 1869 he was busy with their +preparation. Some of them were in circulation in manuscript in a more +or less finished condition and some others were buried with his wife. +As a relief from the strain of painting he began to write again. "The +Ballad of Troy Town," part of "Eden Bower," and the "Stream's Secret," +were among the new poems. He thought at first to collect as many of +the earlier works as he could remember, together with those of which +friends had manuscript copies, and to have them set up in type as the +foundation of a possible volume. But he was persuaded with difficulty +to apply for permission to open the grave of his wife in order to +recover the buried manuscript. In 1870 the book, under the title, +"Poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti," was published by Mr. F. S. Ellis, +then in King Street, Covent Garden. Round Rossetti and his buried poems +a sort of legend had been growing up which, aided by his fame as a +painter, guarded his work against the indifference with which a volume +of verses by an unknown poet is bound to be received. The book proved +a great success and within a week or two Rossetti found himself in +possession of £300. + +This success was not achieved without raising some jealousy. Mr. +Buchanan, under the pseudonym of "Thomas Maitland" rushed into print +with the damning essay that appeared in the _Contemporary Review_ +for October 1871, under the title "The Fleshly School of Poetry." +This attack was repeated by the same writer in a pamphlet. Rossetti +in ill health and suffering from nervous fancies, considered that +there was a conspiracy against him, a view that, had his health been +stronger, he would not perhaps have adopted. The publication of the +article aggravated his insomnia. Dr. Gordon Hake offered him his +house at Roehampton in order to procure a change for the sufferer, +who either by accident or of set purpose had taken the contents of a +phial of laudanum, and lay for two days between life and death. Prompt +treatment, and his strong constitution helped recovery. He was taken +to Scotland where he resumed work on a replica of "Beata Beatrix." +Out-of-door exercise, early hours, and absence of worries, helped a +great deal to bring about his partial recovery. In September 1872 he +left Scotland and went to Kelmscott where he shared a fine Elizabethan +manor house with William Morris. + +His work during 1872-1874 consisted mostly in repainting many of his +earlier pictures. He worked again on "Lilith," "Beloved," "Monna +Vanna," and others. In July 1874 he left Kelmscott and came back to +London, never to return to the quiet manor house, which from this time +was in possession of Morris alone. + +Besides retouching his earlier work during the time of his stay at +Kelmscott, Rossetti started a number of new canvases, and made a +certain number of studies for use in future work. Among them are: "Rosa +Triplex," three heads from the same sitter, Miss May Morris. This +drawing is one of four or five versions. A portrait in red chalk on +grey-green paper of Mrs. W. J. Stillman, "La Donna de la Fiamma," and +"Silence," probably studies for pictures never painted, the little head +of a lady holding a small branch of rose-leaves called "Rose-leaf." +"Mariana," an oil painting, its title taken from a scene of "Measure +for Measure," and "A Lady with a Fan," being a portrait of Mrs. Schott, +were all prepared about this time. He also started the first studies +for his big picture, "Dante's Dream," among them a study from Mrs. +Morris for the head of the dead Beatrice, a head of Dante, and studies +for the two maidens holding the pall. "Troy Town," after his own +ballad, and "The Death of Lady Macbeth," are two designs for pictures +never painted. "Pandora" was completed in 1871. "Water Willow," a +portrait of Mrs. Morris is specially interesting because the river +landscape behind represents Kelmscott. A coloured chalk study for that +picture exists, the only difference between the portrait and the study +being that the background of the latter represents a river without +the view of Kelmscott. The "Dante's Dream" begun in 1870 was finished +towards the end of 1871. It is the largest picture Rossetti ever +painted, the subject is that of the early water-colour of 1856, and the +picture illustrates the following: + + "Then Love spoke thus: 'Now all shall be made clear; + Come and behold our lady where she lies.' + + * * * * * + + Then carried me to see my lady dead; + And standing at her head + Her ladies put a veil over her; + And with her was such very humbleness + That she appeared to say, 'I am at peace.'" + +In the composition Dante is led by Love to where Beatrice lies dead, +and Love bends down to kiss her. On either side of the bier where she +lies, two maidens dressed in green are holding a pall covered with May +flowers and the floor is strewed with poppies, emblem of death. On each +side of the picture there are winding staircases through which one sees +the sunny streets of Florence. Love is dressed in flame colour and +birds of the same hue are flying about to suggest that the place is +filled with the Spirit of Love. + +Proserpine was the next picture Rossetti undertook. It was begun on +four canvases. The fourth when finished was sold. Rossetti, who at +that time had assistants to help him in making the replicas of his +earlier work, painted to satisfy the demand of his patrons, and much +controversy raged round this picture. It is impossible to say if it +was entirely painted by him, but he owned to it although it was not +a good one. The purchaser was dissatisfied so he agreed to take it +back. The three unfinished versions were cut down and transformed into +heads, one of which, with the adding of some floral accessories, and a +slight change in the hands, was called "Blanziflore" or "Snowdrops." +One cannot help being a little puzzled by the notion of beginning four +canvases of the same picture at the same time, it suggests too much of +the commercial spirit. + +In 1872 "Veronica Veronese," and the "Bower Meadow," were painted, the +former illustrating the following lines, supposed to be a quotation +taken from Girolamo Ridolfi's letters which are inscribed on the frame: + +"Se penchant vivement la Véronica jeta les premières notes sur la +feuille vierge. Ensuite elle prit l'archet du violon pour réaliser +son rêve; mais avant de décrocher l'instrument suspendu, elle resta +quelques instants immobile en écoutant l'oiseau inspirateur, pendant +que sa main gauche errait sur les cordes cherchant le motif suprême +encore éloigné. C'était le mariage des voix de la nature et de +l'âme--l'aube d'une création mystique." + +The Lady Veronica, dressed in green, is sitting in front of a little +table on which is her music manuscript. Behind her on the left-hand top +corner is a canary perched on a cage and at her side stands a glass +of daffodils. She is leaning forward as if listening to the bird, +plucking with her left hand the strings of a violin hanging on the wall +in front of her while she holds the bow in her right hand. + + [Illustration: PLATE VIII.--ASTARTE SYRIACA + + From the oil painting (74 in. by 43 in.) now in the Corporation + Art Gallery at Manchester + + This picture was painted for Mr. Clarence Fry of the firm Elliot and + Fry, in 1877 and was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1883.] + +The "Bower Meadow" represents two women playing instruments and two +dancing figures, for which he made charming crayon studies. All these +figures were painted on an old background study of trees and foliage +he had painted in 1850, in his Pre-Raphaelite days when he was working +with Holman Hunt. + +The next great oil canvas is dated 1873, and is called "The +Ghirlandata." To this year belongs "Ligeia Siren," a drawing of a +sea-maiden playing on a musical instrument, a preliminary study for +"Sea Spell." + +"The Damsel of the Sanc Grael" was painted in 1874; it is a second +version of that subject strangely showing the psychological change in +Rossetti. The primitive simplicity so characteristic of the mediæval +legend and also of his early work has disappeared. The austere damsel +has become a "pretty" girl, with fair flowing hair, who holds a goblet. +The unfinished "Boat of Love" was also begun in 1874. Rossetti came +back to London in that year as has already been stated. + +The dissolution of the firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. took +place at that time and was reconstituted under the sole management of +Morris. The dissolution did not take place without a certain amount +of friction, caused by the disagreement between Morris and Brown. +Rossetti seems to have taken Brown's part, and although Rossetti and +Morris did not quarrel, they saw very little of one another from that +date. But it is well to remember that Rossetti lived a very secluded +life, seeing very few people and labouring under the delusion that a +widespread conspiracy existed against him. This was apparently one of +the hallucinations resulting from the habitual use of chloral. + +The end of 1875 and beginning of 1876 were passed first in a house +at Bognor and after at a friend's in Hampshire. The artist was then +working on his pictures, "The Blessed Damozel," "The Spirit of the +Rainbow," and "Forced Music." + +In 1877 serious illness kept him two months in bed, and when better +he was taken to a little cottage near Herne Bay. There he was able to +resume his work and drew a crayon group of his mother and sister as +well as two separate drawings of his sister and one of his mother. To +that year belongs the "Astarte Syriaca" (now in the Corporation Art +Gallery of Manchester). The Syrian Venus stands against a red sunset +sky in which the moon is rising, gazing full face, with large dreamy +eyes. On the right and left two angel figures, holding torches, look +upwards. + +In that year the Grosvenor Gallery was founded and Madox Brown, +Rossetti, and Burne-Jones were asked to exhibit. Madox Brown and +Rossetti refused, but Burne-Jones accepted. The exhibition of his work +there brought him the enormous popularity he enjoyed. Down to that +time the public curiosity which had been roused by the controversies +following the forming of the P.R.B. had not been satisfied. + + + + +VII + + +After 1877 Rossetti kept strictly to his house at 16 Cheyne Walk +visited only by a few faithful friends. + +He began to write again in 1878. By March 1881 he had enough material +for a new volume, "Ballads and Sonnets," the MS. of which was offered +to and accepted by Messrs. Ellis & White on the same terms as his first +book, now out of print after running into a sixth edition. The "Ballads +and Sonnets" met with quite as great success as the earlier volume, +this time without any discordant note of criticism. In this year +Rossetti sold his great picture of "Dante's Dream" to the Corporation +of Liverpool. + +The two finished works of 1878 are: "A Vision of Fiametta," and a +water-colour called "Bruna Brunelleschi." To that year must be added +the unfinished design called "Desdemona's Death Song," various studies +for the figure of Desdemona, a design of the entire composition done +on a scale about half-life size, as well as a beginning of the picture +on canvas, which was not continued. The Faust subject that he intended +to paint, "Gretchen, or Risen at Dawn," was not more advanced. As time +went on and his health failed his output diminished. + +In 1879 Rossetti painted a replica of the "Blessed Damozel" with its +predella, changing the background of lovers and substituting two +angels' heads. "La Donna de la Fenestra" was also completed in that +year. + +In 1880 and 1881 Rossetti was working on three large pictures, "The +Day Dream," "The Salutation of Beatrice," and "La Pia," as well as on +"Found," the early attempt at a modern subject that he was never able +to finish. He painted several replicas, the most important being a +smaller version of "Dante's Dream." The "Daydream" begun in 1868 was +also completed at this time and the picture has since been given to the +South Kensington Museum by its owner Mr. Ionidès. "The Salutation of +Beatrice" is quite different from the earlier design of the same name +and shows those defects of his later work that we have pointed out; it +was not quite finished at the time of his death. "La Pia" is the last +picture painted and shows the same faults as the last mentioned. + +In September 1881 Rossetti went for a trip in the lake district of +Cumberland accompanied by Mr. Hall Caine, but after a month his health +grew worse and he returned in haste to London. A few days later he +became so ill that he required very careful nursing. After a partial +recovery from this illness he was once more interrupted in his work +by an attack of nervous paralysis, which seized him suddenly. This +last attack was due to the chloral he had been in the habit of taking +for so long and it was then strictly forbidden. The habit of so many +years was not to be broken without much discomfort and suffering, but +he gradually got better. As soon as he was well enough he was taken to +Birchington-on-Sea in February 1882, there he managed to work a little, +but was soon attacked by an old disorder, and in his weakened state +of health he could not throw it off. He grew weaker and worse. Death +came with the 10th of April 1882, and the painter poet is buried in the +little churchyard of Birchington. + +In the last days of his life, when he could paint no more, he made an +attempt to finish the story of "St. Agnes of Intercession" which was +begun for the "Germ," he also completed the ballad of "Jan Van Hunks," +and wrote a couple of sonnets for his drawing called the "Question." + +Most of the critics who have written on Rossetti deplore the fact that +he did not learn to paint, but to artists one of the greatest charms +of his pictures (especially the early ones) is the unexpectedness of +their composition. We owe that charm in a great measure to the fact +that happily he had not been spoiled by the sophisticated teaching of +Academic Schools, but had kept the bloom of his poetical inspiration. +We must thank the instinct of the young man, which made him avoid a +teaching which is bound to be fatal to both realism and romanticism. It +may be that he himself deplored the lack of training at certain moments +of discouragement in his life, but the kind of training available at +the time of his début would not have added much to his achievement. He +managed to say what he had to say, and in many cases to say it well. +He saved himself the loss of time necessary to forget certain of the +artistic préjugés then in vogue, they would have been very much in his +way, even if he had quite succeeded in getting rid of them. The rather +amateurish side to Rossetti's art is vastly compensated for by the +precious qualities he has been able to preserve. + +It is unfortunate that, through his refusal to exhibit, the public has +been acquainted first with his later work, which shows the decline of +his faculties caused by his ill health. Neither the fresh creations of +his early work nor the gorgeous pieces of his middle period are as well +known as they deserve to be. + +As a young man Rossetti possessed an extraordinary influence over the +members of the group round him. Later when his work became less sincere +his influence declined and what promised to be at the beginning a great +renaissance of the English School has ended with him. Such a disaster +is certain to befall the school or the artists who do not refresh +themselves continually by the "communion" with nature. Ruskin says in +his Pre-Raphaelitism: "If they adhere to their principles, and paint +nature as it is around them, with the help of modern science, with the +earnestness of the men of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, +they will, as I said, found a new and noble school in England. If +their sympathies with the early artists lead them into mediævalism +or Romanism, they will of course come to nothing." These words were +prophetic. + + + The plates are printed by BEMROSE & SONS, LTD., Derby and London + The text at the BALLANTYNE PRESS, Edinburgh + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + +Text in italics was surrounded by _underscores_ and text in small +capitals was changed to all capitals. + +A few apparently missing periods were added. Otherwise the original was +preserved. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rossetti, by Lucien Pissarro + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43347 *** |