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1828-1882 poet and painter Garbriel’s poems are distinguished
by fantasy, leading the reader to times past, with some medieval colour,
Arthurian legend, and Dantesque mysticism. He was born in
In the cultural atmosphere of his home, he became
interested in romantic literature early as a child. From 1836 to 1843 he
studied at the King's In 1848, he founded the short-lived but influential Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, together with John Everett Millais, Holman Hunt, and others. Receiving rough treatment from critics, Rosssetti and his friends rejected Victorian materialism, admired the works of early Italian artists, and wanted to bring back into art a pre-Renaissance purity of style and spirit. For many years Rossetti was known only as a painter. In most of Rossetti's early pictures his ideal ladies were copied after his wife, the beautiful Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal. He met her in 1850, and married her in 1860 even when she was already in poor health. After his wife died of an overdose of laudanum – some say suicide – in 1862, Rossetti buried with her the only complete manuscript of his poems. The manuscript was recovered seven years later and published in 1870. It included most of his best verse and established his reputation as a poet. In 1868, Rossetti showed renewed interest in poetry. Sixteen sonnets, including the 'Willowwood' sequence, were published in The Forthnightly Review in 1869. At this time, he had a close relationship with Jane Morris, wife of the painter William Morris, and wrote the ballad 'Rose Mary'. Though he was admired by such younger generation of aesthetes as Oscar Wilde, Rossetti's later years were shadowed by health problems, morbid thoughts, and paranoia. From 1869 to 1871 he painted his last important picture, Dante's Dream. In 1872 he attempted suicide but failed. Before his death at the age of fifty-three in 1882, he published “Ballads and Sonnets” (1881) which completed 'The House of Life', a collection of sonnets that appeared eleven years earlier. Rossetti's collected works appeared in 1886 in two volumes. Sources: www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dgrosset.htm www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=697 http://members.tripod.com/preraphs/people/dgrossetti.html |
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Dante Gabriel Rossetti [