,frontispiece3 ,,beata ,,beatrix4 ,bell's ,miniature ,series of ,painters ,,rossetti ,,by ,h4 ,c4 ,,marillier ,,london ,,george ,,bell ,,sons #aijf ,,chiswick ,,press3 ,,charles ,,whittingham ,,and ,,co4 ,,tooks ,,court1 ,,chancery ,,lane1 ,,london4 ,,table ,,of ,,contents ,,chapter ,i4 ,,introductory ,,ii4 ,,the ,,pre-,,raphaelite ,,brotherhood ,,iii4 ,,work ,,from #ahdi ,,to #ahec--;,,influence ,,of ,,browning ,,and ,,dante ,,iv4 ,,friendship ,,with ,,ruskin--,,marriage1 ,,and ,,death ,,of ,,mrs4 ,,rossetti ,v4 ,,work ,,from #ahed ,,to #aheg ,,vi4 ,,work ,,from #aheh ,,to #ahfb ,,vii4 ,,settling ,,at ,,chelsea--,,work ,,from #ahfc ,,to #ahgd ,,viii4 ,,close ,,of ,,the ,,record4 #ahgd-ahhb ,,our ,,illustrations ,,chronological ,,list ,,of ,,chief ,,pictures ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,beata ,,beatrix 444 ,frontispiece ,,ecce ,,ancilla ,,domini ,,the ,,blue ,,closet ,,mary ,,magdalene ,,at ,,the ,,house ,,of ,,simon ,,the ,,pharisee ,,the ,,beloved ,,mariana ,,astarte ,,syriaca ,,dante',s ,,dream ,,dante ,,gabriel ,,rossetti ,,chapter ,i ,,introductory ,dante ,gabriel1 or1 to give him his full christening name1 ,gabriel ,charles ,dante ,rossetti1 was born on ,may #abth1 #ahbh1 at ,no4 #ch1 ,charlotte ,street1 ,portland ,place1 and was the second of four children1 born in successive years4 ,gabriele ,rossetti1 his father1 was a native of the city of ,vasto1 in the province of ,abruzzi4 ,he was a man of superior ability and force of character1 and was at one time custodian of bronzes at the ,naples ,museum2 but having made himself obnoxious to the ,bourbon ,king ,ferdinand during the suppression of the constitution in #ahba1 he was in consequence proscribed and obliged to fly for safety4 ,assisted by a ,british man-of-war in escaping to ,malta1 ,gabriele ,rossetti remained there for some time1 practising as an instructor in his native language1 until further annoyance drove him in #ahbd to ,england4 ,here he settled1 and obtained an appointment as ,professor of ,italian at ,king's ,college4 ,meantime1 in #ahbf1 he had married a daughter of ,gaetano ,polidori1 for some while secretary to the notable ,count ,alfieri1 and father of that strange being1 ,dr4 ,john ,polidori1 who travelled with ,byron as his physician1 and committed suicide in #ahba4 ,gaetano ,polidori's wife1 ,rossetti's grandmother1 was an ,englishwoman1 whose maiden name was ,pierce4 ,to his parentage the young ,gabriel was indebted for much1 but especially to his mother4 ,one can judge of the latter's quiet sensible character1 and deep religious instincts1 from the portraits left us by her son4 ,but1 besides these qualities1 she possessed good literary and artistic judgement1 shrewd knowledge of human nature1 and a fund of common sense which was strong enough to prevent the somewhat mystical spirit pervading the thoughts of her young family from deteriorating into morbid and unhealthy channels4 ,between ,d4 ,g4 ,rossetti and his mother the warmest and most affectionate relations prevailed1 relations that were only severed by the former's untimely death on ,april #ith1 #ahhb4 ,mrs4 ,rossetti survived her son exactly four years to the very day4 ,her husband had died in ,april1 #ahed1 honoured at the last as a patriot in his native land4 ,their elder daughter1 ,maria1 departed this life in #ahgf1 and in ,december1 #ahid1 ,christina ,rossetti also died1 leaving as sole survivor of this brilliant family the younger son1 ,william ,michael1 well known as a literary critic and as the biographer of his more famous brother4 ,albeit ,english in its main external features1 the environment of the ,rossetti family in ,london remained essentially ,italian during their father's lifetime4 ,gabriele ,rossetti was a commentator on ,dante1 and himself a writer of verse1 mainly in a politico-patriotic vein4 ,to the ears of the young ,gabriel1 familiarized by habit with the sonorous metres of the ,inferno and ,paradiso1 the name of ,dante for many years conjured up no very stimulating thoughts4 ,it was not until he had begun as a young man to read upon his own lines1 that the pictorial richness and splendour of the ,florentine dawned on him and seized him with its spell4 ,the ',convito1' he says1 was a name of dread to us1 as being the very essence of arid unreadableness1--an interesting fact to remember when dealing1 as we shall presently have to do1 with the influence which ,dante was destined afterwards to exert upon two members at least of the family4 ,reared in this studious atmosphere1 however1 it is not to be wondered at that the young ,rossettis early took to literature4 ,before they were six years old they had made acquaintance with ,shakespeare and ,scott1 in addition to the usual works of childhood1 and were steeped in romance of a more lofty kind than is common at such an age4 ,of ,rossetti's early literary efforts it is sufficient to mention two3 ,the ,slave1 a bombastic drama in blank verse1 which occupied his faculties at the age of five1 and ,sir ,hugh the ,heron1 a legendary poem founded on a tale by ,allan ,cunningham4 ,these two productions do not sum up the juvenile work of ,rossetti of which a record has been kept1 but they are quite as much as it is fair to mention1 and serve sufficiently to show the romantic drift of his earliest ideas4 ,in art he was scarcely less precocious2 a pretty story being told of a milkman1 who came upon him in the passage sketching his rocking-horse1 and expressed considerable surprise at having seen a baby making a picture4 ,drawings of this date exist1 and also later ones done when he was in the habit of preparing illustrations for books he read and for his own romances4 ,in point of quality1 however1 these juvenile sketches are not to be compared with those of many masters of the brush who began early1 for example with those of ,millais1 and are chiefly interesting in connection with a statement of his brother that he could not remember any date at which it was not an understood thing in the family that ,gabriel was to be a painter4 ,in #ahcg1 after a short preliminary training at a private school1 ,dante ,gabriel was admitted to ,king's ,college1 where his father was ,italian professor4 ,his artistic training did not begin until #ahda or #ahdb1 when he left school1 and entered himself at a drawing academy known in those days as ,sass's1 and kept by ,mr4 ,f4 ,s4 ,gary1 son of the translator of ,dante4 ,he remained some four years at ,gary's ,academy1 during which period he seems to have acquired the bare rudiments of his art and to have made a small reputation for eccentricity4 ,in ,july1 #ahdf1 having sent in the requisite probation-drawings1 he was admitted to the ,antique ,school of the ,royal ,academy4 ,his first appearance is graphically delineated by a fellow-student1 whose observant eye has preserved for us a probably accurate conception of the fiery young enthusiast3 ,thick1 beautiful1 and closely-curled masses of rich brown much-neglected hair fell about an ample brow1 and almost to the wearer's shoulders2 strong eyebrows marked with their dark shadows a pair of rather sunken eyes1 in which a sort of fire1 instinct with what may be called proud cynicism1 burned with furtive energy4 ,his rather high cheekbones were the more observable because his cheeks were roseless and hollow enough to indicate the waste of life and midnight oil to which the youth was addicted4 ,close shaving left bare his very full1 not to say sensuous lips1 and square-cut masculine chin4 ,rather below the middle height1 and with a slightly rolling gait1 ,rossetti came forward among his fellows with a jerky step1 tossed the falling hair back from his face1 and1 having both hands in his pockets1 faced the student world with an insouciant air which savoured of thorough self-reliance4 ,a bare throat1 a falling1 ill-kept collar1 boots not over familiar with brushes1 black and well-worn habiliments1 including not the ordinary jacket of the period1 but a loose dress-coat which had once been new--these were the outward and visible signs of a mood which cared even less for appearances than the art-student of those days was accustomed to care1 which undoubtedly was little enough4 ,as a student in the dry atmosphere of the ,academy ,antique ,school ,rossetti proved a failure1 and never passed to the higher grades of the ,life and ,painting classes4 ,conventional methods of study were distasteful to him1 and the traditions of the ,academy were especially arid and cramping to the imagination4 ,it will be necessary later on to give some description of the state into which the art of painting had fallen in ,england before the fresh minds of the young romantic school1 breaking away under ,rossetti's leadership1 caused such a turmoil and revolution2 but in the meantime1 at the period we are dealing with1 it is probably correct to say that ,rossetti grew tired of1 rather than disapproved of1 the teaching in the school1 that he was full of ideas craving utterance on canvas1 and that he wanted to paint before he could properly draw4 ,this impatience caused him to take a momentous and curious step1 which certainly entailed harm to him as a technical executant1 though it may indirectly have furthered his career as an artist4 ,he decided to throw up the ,academy training1 and wrote to a painter of whom not many people at that date had heard1 but whose work he himself admired1 asking to be admitted into his studio as a pupil4 ,this was ,ford ,madox ,brown1 and for his own particular needs and line of thought ,rossetti could have lighted upon no man more absolutely suitable4 ,madox ,brown was only seven years ,rossetti's senior1 but he had studied abroad at ,ghent1 ,antwerp1 ,paris1 and ,rome1 and had exhibited during the early forties some fine cartoon designs for the decoration of the new ,house of ,lords4 ,the pictures by ,brown which ,rossetti had seen1 and which he mentioned in writing1 were the ,giaour's ,confession1 exhibited at the ,academy in #ahda1 ,parisina 7#ahde71 ,our ,lady of ,saturday ,night1 and ,mary ,queen of ,scots1 of which he remarked1 if ever ,i do anything in art1 it will certainly be attributable to a constant study of that work4 ,this1 and other rather florid compliments of the same sort1 may well have impressed ,madox ,brown1 who was not accustomed to be complimented1 with a shrewd idea that he was being made fun of2 and the story has been told how1 in a suspicious frame of mind1 he armed himself with a stick and went forth to seek his unknown correspondent4 ,on arriving at the house he was partly reassured by a door-plate2 and the evident sincerity and enthusiasm of the boy himself1 when they met1 overcame his generous warm-heartedness1 and made him agree to take ,rossetti into his studio1 and to teach him painting1 not for a fee1 which he declined1 but for the sheer pleasure of encountering and training up a sympathetic spirit4 ,before following his fortunes further in this direction we must go back and note what ,rossetti's activities in literature had amounted to during this period4 ,these are no less than astonishing4 ,to take the greatest first1 they include the bulk of the verse translations from the early ,italian poets1 first published in #ahfa1 and afterwards republished under the altered title of ,dante and his ,circle4 ,although worked on and revised from time to time1 these translations remain in all essentials much as ,rossetti compiled them between the years #ahde and #ahdi1 and they rank among the finest work of the kind in the ,english language1 being no less remarkable for their high poetic qualities than for the subtle dexterity of phrase by which the sound and sense of the originals have been transplanted into a naturally colder tongue4 ,rossetti's translation of the ,vita ,nuova alone might stand as a monument of industry in such a case1 for it breathes a new spirit of language1 a voluptuous and exotic style such as has never been excelled for conveying the emotional mysticism and introspective sentiment of a southern lover2 but to this he added that great mass of verse translations and sonnets1 involving many days spent over musty volumes at the ,british ,museum4 ,even this was not all1 for between the same years he began a translation in verse of the ,nibelungenlied1 and finished a translation of von ,aue's ,arme ,heinrich1 which has been thought worthy of a place amongst his collected works4 ,besides these1 in #ahdg1 before he was nineteen years old1 he had written his best-known poem1 ,the ,blessed ,damozel1 together with several others1 including1 ,my ,sister's ,sleep1 ,the ,portrait1 and considerable portions of ,ave1 ,a ,last ,confession1 and the ,bride's ,prelude4 ,the performance of these literary efforts is so finished1 the sentiment so profound and mature1 that one can hardly understand the ambition which kept painting in the foremost place and made poetry the parergon4 ,the ease with which versification came to ,rossetti may have blinded him at first to the merits of his work in this art1 as happened later in the case of ,william ,morris2 but however that may be1 he was not encouraged to abandon painting as a means of livelihood1 and having made the arrangement already described with ,madox ,brown1 he settled down with a characteristic mixture of enthusiasm and despair to the pursuit of art4 ,much as he owed to him in the way of instruction and sympathetic encouragement1 ,rossetti did not remain long in ,brown's studio1 at all events as a regular attendant1 but left him after a few months to share a studio with ,mr4 ,holman ,hunt4 ,the beginning of this intimacy was curious and typical4 ,on the opening day of the ,academy ,exhibition 7,may1 #ahdh7 ,rossetti1 says ,mr4 ,hunt1 came up boisterously and in loud tongue made me feel very confused by declaring that mine was the best picture of the year4 ,the fact that it was from ,keats 7the picture was ,the ,eve of ,st4 ,agnes7 made him extra-enthusiastic1 for ,i think no painter had ever before painted from this wonderful poet1 who then1 it may scarcely be credited1 was little known4 ,rossetti begged to be allowed to visit ,hunt1 for at the ,academy schools they had barely been acquainted1 and1 as an upshot of the acquaintance1 agreed to work for a time with him1 sharing for this purpose a studio which the latter had just taken in ,cleveland ,street1 ,fitzroy ,square4 ,here 7as well as later in a studio which he took for himself at #hc1 ,newman ,street7 ,brown1 whose friendship continued to the end of ,rossetti's life1 visited him from time to time1 and gave him the benefit of his advice2 and here1 amid what ,mr4 ,hunt has described as the most dismal and dingy surroundings1 ,rossetti began to paint his first real picture4 ,the year #ahdh marks his transition artistically from boyhood to adolescence1 an adolescence in which depth of feeling and height of aspiration transcended the power of accomplishment1 and no artificial mannerisms obscured the seriousness of purpose that characterized1 not him alone1 but the whole of the small band of workers with which he presently became associated4 ,the formation of this band1 and the painting of ,rossetti's first picture1 bring us to the story of the famous ,pre-,raphaelite movement1 and will more properly serve to begin a new1 than to end a preliminary chapter4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,pre-,,raphaelite ,,brotherhood ,in relating afresh the history of the ,pre-,raphaelite movement1 one has many precedents to choose from4 ,according to the point of view selected one may see in it the conscious expression of a great artistic revival1 deliberately planned by a body of zealots1 and based upon a structure of lofty principles2 or one may go to the opposite extreme and regard it merely as an exuberant freak1 an irresponsible outburst on the part of a few impulsive youths linked together for one brief moment by a mutual combination of enthusiasm and high spirits4 ,for both of these points of view ample authority might be quoted1 and the truth as usual lies somewhere safe between them4 ,the tendency has been1 on the whole1 not unnaturally1 to exaggerate the significance of the ,pre-,raphaelite ,brotherhood1 which after all was but the grain of mustard seed from which a great tree sprung4 ,its formation came about in the following way4 ,we have noted the somewhat sudden alliance between ,rossetti and ,holman ,hunt1 and their plan of sharing a studio to carry out work in common4 ,through ,hunt1 ,rossetti had become acquainted with ,millais1 and had joined1 or helped to start1 a ,cyclographic ,society1 numbering several members1 to wit1 ,thomas ,woolner1 ,f4 ,g4 ,stephens1 ,walter ,deverell1 ,john ,hancock the sculptor1 ,james ,collinson1 ,william ,dennis1 ,j4 ,b4 ,keene1 and some four or five besides4 ,the scheme was for members to contribute drawings to a portfolio which was sent round for all the rest to criticise4 ,like other institutions based upon mutual candour1 this society enjoyed a very brief existence1 and was mainly of service in weeding out those who did not sympathize with the new ideas which were ripening in ,rossetti and his friends from those who did4 ,the final development of these ideas was brought about by a meeting at ,millais's home in ,gower ,street1 where the three alighted upon a volume of engravings after the frescoes in the ,campo ,santo at ,pisa4 ,ruskin has spoken scornfully of this work as ,lasinio's execrable engravings1 but whatever their quality they at least served to show that in the earlier men1 who preceded ,raphael1 there was a feeling for earnest work1 a striving after lofty expression1 which was worth more as an inspiration than the stereotyped fashion of painting which had come into vogue in ,england4 ,why this mechanical cult should ever have become grafted on to the ill-used name of ,raphael1 and shadowed by his stately fame1 is a difficult matter to explain1 and requires an excursus into the history of ,european art4 ,its effect on the teaching of the day1 however1 is summed up in the following incisive passage by ,ruskin3 ,we begin1 in all probability1 by telling the youth of fifteen or sixteen that ,nature is full of faults1 and that he is to improve her2 but that ,raphael is perfection1 and that the more he copies ,raphael the better2 that after much copying of ,raphael1 he is to try what he can do himself in a ,raphaelesque1 but yet original manner3 that is to say1 he is to try to do something very clever1 all out of his own head1 but yet this clever something is to be properly subjected to ,raphaelesque rules1 is to have a principal light occupying one-seventh of its space1 and a principal shadow occupying one-third of the same2 that no two people's heads in the picture are to be turned the same way1 and that all the personages represented are to have ideal beauty of the highest order1 which ideal beauty consists partly in a ,greek outline of a nose1 partly in proportions expressible in decimal fractions between the lips and chin2 but partly also in that degree of improvement which the youth of sixteen is to bestow upon ,god's work in general4 ,this canting and misdirected worship of ,raphael by men who had discarded his spirit1 and the realization that before ,raphael there were painters of lofty aim1 may well have determined the title under which the three enthusiasts conspired to band themselves in revolt4 ,from most points of view it was unfortunate4 ,it meant very little in actual fact1 it was misleading so far as it did mean anything1 and it was responsible for much of the acrimony and abuse which the devoted trio afterwards brought down upon their most meritorious efforts4 ,one curious feature of the matter is that they appear to have possessed between them at this time a comparatively slight acquaintance with pre-,raphaelite pictures1 not more1 perhaps1 than the average intelligent visitor to the ,national ,gallery to-day4 ,scarcely anywhere in their writings 7we must except one article by ,mr4 ,f4 ,g4 ,stephens7 do we find praise1 or even mention1 of most of the great pre-,raphaelite painters4 ,nothing of ,mantegna1 ,botticelli1 ,bellini1 ,orcagna1 ,fra ,angelico1 ,melozzo1 ,lippo ,lippi1 or ,piero della ,francesca4 ,at a slightly later date ,rossetti visited ,bruges1 and fell in love with ,memling2 but his letters even then reveal some very crude preferences in art4 ,whatever was perceived or imagined in the work of the men they decided to follow must have been largely a matter of instinct1 backed up by a strong sympathy for the nave and simple charm of the few early ,italian pictures which they had seen4 ,it is a mistake to suppose that what ,rossetti and his companions admired or sought to imitate in these old masters was their mediaeval and primitive style of painting4 ,the mediaeval quality proved infectious1 no doubt1 and may have influenced all more or less at first in the direction of angularity and awkward composition4 ,but there were other causes which also contributed to this4 ,amongst them may be mentioned an idea that for every scene an actual unidealized room or landscape must be painted1 and the figures grouped without reference to arrangement2 also that for each figure a definite model must be taken and followed even to the extent of blemishes4 ,this counsel of perfection1 if it was ever seriously accepted1 was certainly not followed even from the first2 but the fact of its proposal shows the austere lines upon which these youthful painters proceeded1 and helps to explain what many people have found a stumbling-block1 the lack of grace and harmony in some of their earliest compositions4 ,what they sought to follow in the old ,italian models1 however1 with all their archaism and immaturity of skill was the honest striving after nature1 sincerity of style1 decorative simplicity1 and1 by no means least1 the pious selection of worthy subjects4 ,it is this last quality1 exhibited alike by all the members of the ,brotherhood1 that more plainly than anything marks the cleavage between their pre-,raphaelite work and the commonplace painting of the day4 ,they set themselves to paint great and ennobling subjects1 often greater than they could achieve1 out of their imagination1 when the rest of the world 7always excepting men like ,madox ,brown1 who belonged to them in spirit7 were painting what ,ruskin calls 'cattle-pieces1' and 'sea-pieces1' and 'fruit-pieces1' and 'family-pieces'2 the eternal brown cows in ditches1 and white sails in squalls1 and sliced lemons in saucers1 and foolish faces in simpers4 ,in the inauguration of the ,brotherhood ,rossetti took a specially active part1 and the title itself was invented by him4 ,rossetti1 says ,mr4 ,hunt1 with his spirit alike subtle and fiery1 was essentially a proselytiser1 sometimes to an almost absurd degree1 but possessed1 alike in his poetry and painting1 with an appreciation of beauty of the most intense quality4 ,mr4 ,hunt adds that the title of ,pre-,raphaelite was adopted partly in a spirit of fun1 and1 like other names which have acquired honour1 was originally a term of reproach invented by their enemies4 ,on this account they prudently decided to keep it secret1 and to let no outward symbol of their union appear beyond the mystic initials ,p4,r4,b41 which were to be used on all their pictures and in private intercourse4 ,the next step was to enroll sympathetic fellow members4 ,besides the three founders of the ,brotherhood1 ,rossetti1 ,millais1 and ,holman ,hunt1 four more or less active adherents were enlisted4 ,hunt introduced ,mr4 ,f4 ,g4 ,stephens1 who at that time was a painter1 but very soon abandoned art for criticism4 ,woolner1 the sculptor1 whose contributions to the movement were mainly poetical1 was introduced by ,millais1 or possibly ,rossetti2 and the latter certainly was responsible for the remaining two recruits1 his brother and ,james ,collinson4 ,collinson1 a torpid member at the best1 and elected apparently on the strength of one picture which ,rossetti thought stunning1 was mainly useful as a butt to the others1 who used to make fun of his sleepy nature and drag him all reluctant from his bed to go for midnight walks4 ,shortly afterwards1 being seized with religious propensities1 he vacated his membership and retired to ,stonyhurst4 ,for the doings of the ,brotherhood the curious reader will do well to consult the ,memoirs and the ,rossetti ,papers published by ,mr4 ,w4 ,m4 ,rossetti4 ,mr4 ,rossetti1 not being an artist1 was himself elected secretary1 and with business-like care preserved in a diary all the daily and weekly occurrences that came under his notice4 ,it is sufficient to say here that the weekly attendances of the ,brethren1 at first a constant source of pleasure and mutual help1 had become very irregular by ,december1 #ahej1 that an attempt was made to revive them in ,january1 #ahea1 but without effect1 and that ,millais's election to the ,academy in #ahec gave a final quietus to the organization1 which for some time previously had ceased to exist save in name4 ,the ranks of the ,brotherhood had not even remained intact4 ,in addition to ,collinson1 it had lost ,woolner1 who went to ,australia when the emigration craze was at its height4 ,to replace the former a young painter1 ,walter ,howell ,deverell1 had been nominated1 but his election was regarded by some as invalid4 ,deverell1 whose picture of ,viola and the ,duke in ,twelfth ,night remains an almost solitary testimony to his genius1 unhappily died young4 ,he possessed many graces of appearance and manner1 and was in all respects a fascinating personality4 ,behind the ,brotherhood1 and hitherto unmentioned1 we seem to catch a glimpse of another very gracious1 but retiring figure1 that of ,rossetti's sister ,christina1 who in addition to her deeply religious and poetic gifts1 possessed a quiet fund of humour to be expended on the events that occurred within her little circle4 ,we left ,rossetti1 in order to describe the formation of the ,pre-,raphaelite ,brotherhood1 at the point where he had just settled down in a joint studio with ,holman ,hunt to paint his first picture4 ,in an enthusiasm for community of action1 and a spirit of devotion to ,keats1 it had been proposed that each of the ,brethren should illustrate1 by an etching1 a scene from that poet's ,isabella4 ,hunt1 however1 was already engaged upon his picture of ,rienzi2 ,millais had work of a less than ,pre-,raphaelite character to finish off1 and ,rossetti himself was seized with desire to paint a subject which much commended itself to his mystical and symbol-loving mind1 ,the ,girlhood of ,mary ,virgin4 ,the only one of the three eventually1 who touched ,keats that year 7#ahdh7 was ,millais1 who achieved a triumph with the striking picture1 ,lorenzo and ,isabella4 ,rossetti's subject1 as can well be imagined1 gave him endless trouble1 and was a source of violent fits of alternate depression and energy4 ,madox ,brown's diary1 a document full of dry humour and quaint touches1 to say nothing of its pathos1 contains many anecdotes of ,rossetti's exasperating changefulness and want of consideration which show that kindness did not blind the painter to his pupil's foibles4 ,to ,brown's description of ,rossetti1 lying1 howling1 on his belly in my studio1 and1 at another time1 reduced by struggles with impossible drapery to an almost maudlin condition of profanity1 we may add ,hunt's description of how he had solemnly to take his companion out for a walk and explain that if the interruptions of temper and multiplication of difficulties did not cease1 neither of them would have a picture finished to show alongside of ,millais's--a remonstrance which he says was effectual and taken in perfect good part4 ,so by the following spring 7#ahdi7 all three pictures were ready for exhibition1 and were hung1 ,millais's and ,hunt's in the ,academy1 and ,rossetti's either from choice or necessity in the so-called ,free ,exhibition held in a gallery at ,hyde ,park ,corner4 ,here it was bought for #hj by the ,marchioness of ,bath1 in whose family an aunt of ,rossetti's was acting as governess4 ,the picture is on many accounts a favourite one with lovers of ,rossetti's work4 ,considering the painter's age and want of proper training1 it is a masterly performance4 ,the scene shown is a room in the ,virgin's home1 with an open balcony at which her father1 ,st4 ,joachim1 is tending a symbolically fruitful vine4 ,on the right of the picture1 are the figures of the ,virgin and her mother seated at an embroidery frame4 ,the young girl1 a most untypical ,madonna1 in simple gray dress with pale green at the wrists1 pauses with a needle in her hand1 and gazes with a rapt ascetic look at the room before her1 where1 as if visible to her eyes1 a child-angel is tending a tall white lily4 ,beneath the pot in which the lily grows are six large books bearing the names of the six cardinal virtues4 ,these1 and a dove perching on the trellis1 are amongst the peaceful symbols of the picture1 whilst the tragedy also is foreshadowed in a figure of the cross formed by the young vine-tendrils and in some strips of palm and seven-thorned briar laid across the floor4 ,rossetti painted the calm face of his mother for ,st4 ,anna1 and his sister ,christina for the ,virgin1 giving her1 however1 in contravention of the rule mentioned above1 golden instead of dark brown hair4 ,although #ahdh is intrinsically the year of the ,pre-,raphaelite movement1 much of the work of the next two years comes within the scope of its influence4 ,as an example may be cited the important pen-and-ink drawing called ,il ,saluto di ,beatrice1 representing in two compartments the meeting of ,dante and ,beatrice1 first in a street of ,florence and secondly in ,paradise4 ,the whole composition was repeated in oil in #ahei1 and the meeting in ,paradise formed the subject of more than one separate drawing4 ,the cream of ,rossetti's ,pre-,raphaelite work1 however1 during the two years subsequent to #ahdh1 is the ,ecce ,ancilla ,domini1 a sequel in sentiment to his picture of the previous year4 ,this is well known to frequenters of the ,national ,gallery at ,millbank1 and is described elsewhere4 ,it was exhibited in #ahej under the same auspices as its predecessor 7though the gallery this year was moved to ,portland ,place71 and was priced at #ej4 ,its appearance was the signal for a storm of abuse and raillery1 which descended with impartial violence also upon the pictures of the other ,pre-,raphaelites exhibited at the ,academy1 and pursued them relentlessly until time and success finally established their position4 ,illustration3 ,,ecce ,,ancilla ,,domini4 ,it would serve no purpose to go again and at length into the nature of this attack4 ,charles ,dickens and many other great men lent their names to it1 and the ,brethren were compelled to face evil days in consequence4 ,but in the darkest hour a saviour appeared4 ,ruskin1 who before the outcry hardly knew of the existence of the school1 had his attention drawn to it by ,coventry ,patmore1 and with characteristic fearlessness and energy plunged into the fray4 ,in a series of letters to the ,times he defended the artists at all points1 from the charge of being ignorant copyists and realists1 the accusation that they could not draw1 the alleged conspiracy against ,raphael1 and finally from the subtlest insinuation of all1 because it sounded so professional1 the charge that they knew not the laws of perspective4 ,this ardent championship had one curious effect4 ,in his warmth of defence ,ruskin had not only combatted the statement of faults1 but had revelled in laying down an elaborate statement of principles4 ,thus it came about that the original ideas out of which the ,brotherhood had grown1 ideas of a broad and possibly nebulous character1 became transmuted into hard and fast rules of conduct and of practice1 which the ,brotherhood more or less had to accept1 partly perhaps out of gratitude to their benefactor1 partly because they agreed with them in theory1 and partly because they may not have seen how far they led4 ,on the other hand1 if we are not to credit the ,pre-,raphaelites with all the fine sentiments attributed to them in ,ruskin's inspired defence1 it is absurd to imagine1 as some have done1 that they failed to take themselves or their work seriously because ,rossetti in his family letters used to speak flippantly of his unlucky little picture1 which1 like a curse1 had come home to roost4 ,men often enough speak lightly to friends of things which have lain at the heart2 and if ,rossetti joked to his brother about the blessed eyesore and the blessed white daub1 it is none the less true that he had striven to put all his thoughts and all his knowledge into it1 with such success that it reveals to us to-day an intensity of feeling and reverence which few modern painters have emulated1 and to which ,rossetti in his later work did not always attain4 ,a characteristic of the ,pre-,raphaelite ,brotherhood which has not yet been touched on1 and which here calls for digression1 was its remarkable literary strength4 ,of the seven original members1 two--,w4 ,m4 ,rossetti and ,stephens--were writers by preference4 ,the former did not paint at all4 ,gabriel ,rossetti was1 as we have seen1 a poet before he could be called a painter1 and a poet of the first order4 ,woolner also was a poet1 and in this capacity alone belonged to the movement4 ,collinson made a third2 ,deverell a weak fourth4 ,millais and ,hunt showed no inclination this way2 but1 besides those mentioned1 the coterie included ,christina ,rossetti1 ,william ,bell ,scott1 ,coventry ,patmore1 and ,madox ,brown1 who wrote occasionally in verse4 ,even without the need of a propaganda such a body was almost bound in the nature of things to produce literary thought allied in sentiment with its artistic ideas and aims4 ,hence came about the ,germ1 that much-prized periodical1 which had its origin in the fertile brain of ,rossetti1 and which was ostensibly formed to be the organ of the ,p4,r4,b41 and to spread its opinions4 ,the first number included ,my ,sister's ,sleep and the prose romance1 ,hand and ,soul1 by ,rossetti4 ,subsequent numbers contained ,the ,blessed ,damozel1 ,the ,carillon1 ,sea ,limits 7under its first title of ,from the ,cliffs71 and six or seven sonnets4 ,of the four numbers published the first two only were called ,the ,germ1 the title in the third and fourth being altered to ,art and ,poetry at the suggestion of the ,tuppers1 who as printers of the magazine had taken over the responsibility on generous terms4 ,the ,germ1 as its brief career sufficiently denotes1 fell almost stillborn upon an ungrateful world2 but amongst a small class of artists and admirers it undoubtedly served to strengthen ,rossetti's reputation4 ,there was nothing feeble or immature about the poetical ideas expressed in it1 and one may even be surprised that such an original piece of work as the ,blessed ,damozel did not attract greater attention4 ,both it and ,hand and ,soul have frequently been reprinted4 ,the latter is interesting for the light it throws upon ,rossetti's mediaeval and mystical mind4 ,to some extent it is an autobiographical record1 a memory of mental perturbations and experiences which beset the young painter1 striving to preserve and foster the spiritual side of his nature at the expense of more than commonly strong bodily inclinations4 ,from an abstraction like this story of the mythical young painter ,chiaro dell' ,erma we may feel we get one truer glimpse of the real ,rossetti than any number of life-histories1 overlaid with trivial incidents which obscure rather than reveal his personality1 can give us4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,work ,,from #ahdi ,,to #ahec ,,influence ,,of ,,browning ,,and ,,dante ,before the first number of the ,germ had appeared1 and while it was in progress1 ,rossetti1 accompanied by ,holman ,hunt1 paid a short and hurried visit to ,paris and ,belgium4 ,a rhyming diary and a series of jocular sonnets1 interspersed with a few serious ones1 recall the vigour of his first impressions4 ,a large proportion of the time was spent at the ,louvre and other galleries1 rushing through ,old ,masters at a furious rate4 ,after their return home ,rossetti found his affairs in a bad way4 ,the failure of the ,ecce ,ancilla to find a purchaser at once 7it was not sold until ,june #ahec71 and the storm of unfavourable comment it provoked1 caused him frankly to abandon as unprofitable the mine of semi-religious1 semi-mystical feeling which he had begun to work1 and it was some time before he could settle down to find another4 ,feeling his way pictorially towards the field of romance in which his thoughts wandered1 he began to undertake subjects from this class of literature1 from ,browning1 ,dante1 ,keats1 and later from the ,morte ,darthur of ,malory4 ,his first experiment was a large canvas illustrating the page's song in ,pippa ,passes1 which soon became impossible and had to be dropped4 ,the composition of it remains1 however1 in a little painting called ,hist1 said ,kate the ,queen1 dated #ahea4 ,two other designs from ,browning which were carried out at this time are a pen-and-ink drawing from ,sordello entitled ,taurello's first sight of ,fortune and ,the ,laboratory4 ,the latter was1 in all probability1 ,rossetti's first attempt at water-colour 7it is painted over a pen-and-ink drawing1 as several of his early ones were71 and bears but slight resemblance either in thought or execution to the work by which he is popularly known4 ,in addition to these three subjects1 ,rossetti drew or painted in the years #ahdi-ej other themes of a romantic and mediaeval nature4 ,amongst them was his first illustration to ,shakespeare1 a scene from ,much ,ado about ,nothing1 representing the happy lovers1 ,benedick and ,beatrice1 receiving the felicitations of those who had plotted their match4 ,from the ,vita ,nuova ,rossetti took the incident of ,dante drawing an ,angel on the ,anniversary of ,beatrice's ,death1 executed first in pen-and-ink1 and originally given to ,millais4 ,a water-colour of the same subject is of later date1 #ahec4 ,the latter was bought by ,mr4 ,thomas ,combe1 of the ,oxford ,university ,press1 and was bequeathed by his widow to the ,taylorian ,museum1 where it remains4 ,the ,vita ,nuova also furnished the subject of a small water-colour of #ahdi1 representing ,beatrice at the ,wedding ,feast denying her salutation to ,dante4 ,the poet1 with a friend grasping his arm as if to restrain him1 stands watching a procession of figures clad in blue and green1 and adorned with roses in their hair4 ,the central figure of the bridal procession is a portrait of ,miss ,elizabeth ,eleanor ,siddal1 who first came into ,rossetti's life at about this date4 ,she was the daughter of a ,sheffield cutler1 and was employed in a milliner's shop off ,leicester ,square1 where ,walter ,deverell discovered her one day when shopping with his mother4 ,she was persuaded to sit to ,deverell for his ,viola1 and later to ,rossetti4 ,her portrait also occurs in a picture by ,holman ,hunt and in ,millais's ,ophelia4 ,both on account of her romantic history and her individual attractions1 the personality of ,miss ,siddal has always exercised a delicate charm over those who love ,rossetti4 ,she was the model for most of ,rossetti's earliest and finest water-colours containing women1 and probably for all his ,beatrices except the last4 ,to resume the tale of early work1 in #ahea ,rossetti continued to be engaged on small subjects of a mediaeval or dramatic character4 ,we have1 for instance1 the charming little group called ,borgia1 in which the famous ,lucretia is seen seated with a lute in her hands1 to the music of which two children are dancing4 ,over her shoulders lean on the one side the bloated ,pope ,alexander ,,vi1 on the other her brother ,caesar1 beating time with a knife against a wine-glass on the table1 and blowing the rose-petals from her hair4 ,lucretia's white gown is of ample folds1 with elaborate sleeves1 looped up all over with coloured ribbons and bows1 a device which so took ,rossetti's fancy that he repeated it in ,bonifazio's ,mistress 7#ahfj74 ,in the same year 7#ahea7 was produced the first design for a subject of weird and ghostly conception1 called ,how they met ,themselves4 ,this depicts a pair of lovers wandering at twilight in a wood1 and suddenly confronted with their own doubles4 ,the legend of the ,doppelganger was one of a class of mysterious horrors which greatly appealed to ,rossetti's imagination1 and which fascinated him from boyhood4 ,few but he however would have dared to draw it1 and fewer still could have succeeded with it4 ,the first design just referred to1 was drawn in pen-and-ink1 and was destroyed or lost at an early date2 but ,rossetti redrew it in #ahfj whilst at ,paris on his honeymoon1 and four years later painted two water-colour versions4 ,to the year following1 #aheb1 belongs a remarkable water-colour1 representing ,giotto painting a famous portrait of ,dante which was discovered on removing the plaster from the wall of the ,bargello in #ahci4 ,giotto is in dull red1 with brocaded sleeves turned back4 ,to his left is seated ,dante1 cutting a pomegranate in his hand1 and gazing down with a rapt expression to where ,beatrice is passing in a church procession4 ,behind ,giotto stands his master1 ,cimabue1 watching the work which is to eclipse his2 and behind ,dante leans his rival1 ,cavalcanti1 holding in his hand a book of ,guinicelli1 symbolizing thereby the three generations of poets4 ,nothing else of importance is catalogued under the year #aheb1 but in #ahec we come to one or two well-known designs and pictures4 ,first may be mentioned the pen-and-ink drawing entitled ,hesterna ,rosa1 founded upon the plaintive song of ,elena in ,sir ,henry ,taylor's ,philip van ,artevelde3 ,quoth tongue of neither maid nor wife ,to heart of neither wife nor maid1 ',lead we not here a jolly life ,betwixt the shine and shade8' ,quoth heart of neither maid nor wife ,to tongue of neither wife nor maid1 ',thou wag'st1 but ,i am sore with strife1 ,and feel like flowers that fade4' ,the scene represents two gamblers throwing dice1 and their mistresses1 one of whom in a fit of shame is covering her face4 ,she is the yesterday's rose4 ,the other clasps her arms round the neck of her lover1 and is singing a merry song4 ,an innocent little child near by is touching a lute1 and ,rossetti has completed the other aspect of the scene by putting in an ape scratching itself1 a ,dreresque touch which he added also in the little ,borgia group4 ,a water-colour version of the same subject was painted in #ahfe1 and a larger version1 bearing the title ,elena's ,song1 was painted in #ahga4 ,the starting of ,found is one of the most memorable events in connection with the year #ahec4 ,the subject is a countryman or drover recognizing in a fallen woman of the streets his own lost sweetheart4 ,found was commissioned by a ,mr4 ,mac,cracken1 who was also the purchaser of ,ecce ,ancilla1 in #ahec1 and several studies were made for it4 ,the picture however was never finished4 ,it was1 writes ,mr4 ,w4 ,m4 ,rossetti1 a source of lifelong vexation to my brother and to the gentlemen1 some three or four in succession1 who commissioned him to finish it4 ,after his death1 ,sir ,edward ,burne-,jones consented to give a sort of finish to the picture by washing in blue sky4 ,in its half-completed state it passed into the possession of ,mr4 ,william ,graham1 and after his death it went to ,america4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a short note on ,rossetti's movements during the period just covered may be given here4 ,we left him in #ahdh1 after a few months' work at ,madox ,brown's1 sharing a studio with ,holman ,hunt in ,cleveland ,street1 ,soho1 and painting at the ,girlhood of the ,virgin4 ,at the beginning of #ahea1 he took in common with ,deverell the first floor rooms at ,no4 #ag1 ,red ,lion ,square--the rooms which ,morris and ,burne-,jones occupied subsequently from #ahef to #ahei1 and which served as a cradle for the famous firm4 ,in ,november1 #aheb1 he took a set of rooms at #ad1 ,chatham ,place1 ,blackfriars1 on a site now cleared away1 overlooking the river and presenting other advantages4 ,here he remained for nearly ten years1 including the brief two years of his married life1 and here he accomplished what many judges consider the most interesting portion of his work4 ,he had by now acquired a certain measure of independence as a painter1 which went on increasing as generous or wealthy patrons attached themselves4 ,that his progress was slow1 and that for many years he was reduced to selling water-colours of priceless beauty for comparatively trifling sums1 was the result partly of a determination which he formed never to exhibit his work4 ,this resolve1 which later on became a sort of mania1 is said to have been due in the first instance to the discouraging reception of ,ecce ,ancilla ,domini in #ahej4 ,for a long time1 of course1 it prevented his being known at all or appreciated by possible purchasers1 and his work circulated amongst a narrow circle of artistic friends4 ,in the days of his greatness it may have had an opposite effect by arousing curiosity1 and producing a feeling of pique4 ,buyers were attracted towards a man who was notorious for despising the public eye1 and whose work was spoken of with bated breath as something supremely precious4 ,with some few exceptions1 however1 it is essential to remember that ,rossetti's work was absolutely unseen by the public1 who became acquainted with him as a poet long before they knew him even dimly as a painter4 ,the effects of this ignorance are still discernible4 ,even after two great exhibitions of his works in ,london1 and after the publication of a wide selection from his designs1 there are people who believe that ,rossetti never painted but from one model1 and that all his pictures are distinguished by impossible lips and a goitrous development of neck4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,friendship ,,with ,,ruskin4--,,marriage1 ,,and ,,death ,,of ,,mrs4 ,,rossetti ,with the year #ahed ,rossetti's life entered upon a new phase4 ,this was the first year of his memorable connection with ,ruskin4 ,at the same time he had by now engaged himself to marry ,miss ,siddal1 whose companionship and whose health became1 for the next eight years1 the most absorbing facts in his private life4 ,to speak of ,ruskin first1 his was no ordinary friendship1 but a curious combination of patron1 friend1 and mentor4 ,if ,rossetti had been a common man1 living an ordinary life and working on regular lines1 such a connection would have been1 as he jocularly described it once1 in a way to make his fortune4 ,for ,ruskin was willing to buy within certain limits almost everything that ,rossetti produced4 ,furthermore1 having taken a great fancy to ,miss ,siddal1 and admiring her poetic and artistic gifts1 which had grown in a remarkable way under ,rossetti's tuition1 he tried to make an arrangement whereby he should purchase all her work also1 and there is no doubt that ,ruskin's help at this critical period was invaluable1 and that without it the young couple would have suffered even more struggling times than they did4 ,for ,rossetti was hopelessly unthrifty1 flush of money one day1 out-at-elbows the next1 and invariably anticipating any money to be earned from commissions4 ,the ,ruskin letters which have been published1 throw an interesting light upon this butterfly existence4 ,before passing from the subject of ,ruskin it is interesting to note that he enlisted ,rossetti as an active helper in the scheme promoted by ,frederic ,denison ,maurice for bringing art into the ,east end4 ,his method of teaching has been described by one who attended his lectures4 ,he began at once with colour4 ,as in his own personality and his own work1 light and shade1 drawing1 and everything else was subservient to colour4 ,without troubling about the grammar of design he gave his pupils nature to copy and showed them how to copy it4 ,a later generation has come to see wisdom in ,rossetti's method1 and has introduced it successfully under government auspices in elementary schools4 ,in #ahfj ,rossetti and ,miss ,siddal carried out their long projected plans of matrimony1 which had been delayed by the latter's illness1 by uncertain prospects1 and perhaps also by a final want of resolution on ,rossetti's part4 ,the marriage took place on ,may #bcrd1 and the young couple went for their wedding trip to ,paris and ,boulogne4 ,on their return the rooms at ,chatham ,place were extended by opening a door into the adjoining house4 ,the independent bachelor habits to which both were accustomed made life as ,bohemian and irregular after marriage as before it4 ,men friends came and went as they pleased2 tavern dinners relieved the strain of studio work1 and little if any respect was paid to the conventions of social intercourse4 ,mrs4 ,rossetti's delicate health alone made it impossible for her to go about much1 except amongst devoted and intimate friends1 the chief of whom in these days perhaps were ,algernon ,charles ,swinburne and the ,madox ,brown and ,morris families4 ,in ,may1 #ahfa1 ,mrs4 ,rossetti gave birth to a child1 still-born1 and her slow recovery1 added to the phthisical troubles with which she was afflicted1 induced a severe and wearing form of neuralgia4 ,for this she was prescribed laudanum1 of which1 on the night of ,february #aj1 #ahfb1 she unhappily took an overdose4 ,poor ,rossetti1 on returning home from the ,working ,men's ,college1 where he had been lecturing1 found his wife already past recovery1 and1 frantic with anxiety1 rushed off to ,highgate ,rise to summon the ever-ready assistance of ,madox ,brown4 ,the following morning she died1 after but two years of married life clouded with illness2 and for a time at least her loss deprived ,rossetti of all capacity for work and almost of all interest in his art4 ,the most touching event in his whole career of swift and flame-like emotions is the sudden impulse which led him1 as his wife's coffin was being closed1 to bury in her hair the drafts of all his early poems1 which at her request he had copied into a little book4 ,only a poet could put into words the dramatic intensity of grief which was expressed in this now historic sacrifice to the memory of ,rossetti's dead wife4 ,,chapter ,v ,,work ,,from #ahed ,,to #aheg ,rossetti's work1 during the earlier part of the period we have been glancing through1 was of a particularly interesting1 and towards the latter end of a sufficiently varied character4 ,in range of subject it belongs to the category described in ,chapter ,,iii1 with the important addition that now for the first time is added to his sources of romantic inspiration the ,morte ,darthur of ,sir ,thomas ,malory4 ,this cycle of old ,celtic legends had been for many years practically a sealed book in ,england1 and its popularity to-day is largely owing to the interest revived in it by ,rossetti1 and later by the famous group of ,oxford friends1 including ,william ,morris and ,edward ,burne-,jones4 ,rossetti had become acquainted with ,malory by #ahed1 which is the date of that strange1 sad little water-colour1 ,king ,arthur's ,tomb1 representing1 in an imaginary scene1 ,launcelot bidding a last farewell to ,guenevere4 ,apart from this ,rossetti had in hand a number of drawings which were continually put on one side as fresh ideas crowded into his restless brain1 and were often not finished until many years later4 ,the statement could easily be verified1 that many1 if not most1 of ,rossetti's later pictures were planned during these early strenuous years of his life1 so that it is not to be wondered at that the actual finished work of these early years was sparse in quantity and slight in quality--much slighter1 for instance1 than the two religious paintings with which he had begun his career4 ,on the other hand1 for many people these little water-colours of ,rossetti's second period have a charm that nothing in his larger and more elaborated later work can recall4 ,in the early part of #ahed ,rossetti wrote to ,ruskin that he was occupied with ideas for three subjects1 ,found1 ,mary ,magdalene at the ,door of ,simon1 and another which is not named1 but which from the context one may infer to have been the water-colour diptych of ,paolo and ,francesco da ,rimini4 ,in ,august of the same year he wrote that he was at work on a ,hamlet and ,ophelia1 deeply symbolical of course1 and predestined for the folio which ,millais had presented1 and which was still supposed to be in circulation among the members of a select sketching club4 ,about the same time he submitted to ,ruskin two designs for ,the ,passover1 one of which was chosen to be begun at once1 while ,ruskin also commissioned seven drawings from the ,purgatorio1 of which one certainly1 ,matilda gathering ,flowers1 was very shortly put in hand4 ,none of these undertakings saw the light for at least another year2 the ,hamlet not for four or five4 ,the ,matilda was finished first and delivered in ,september #ahee1 and on the #bnd ,december ,madox ,brown records in his diary1 apropos ,miss ,siddal being stranded in ,paris without money1 ,gabriel1 who saw that none of the drawings on the easel could be completed before long1 began a fresh one1 ,francesca da ,rimini1 in three compartments2 worked day and night1 finished it in a week1 got thirty-five guineas for it from ,ruskin1 and started off to relieve them4 ,this was the earliest version of a subject that ,rossetti returned to more than once1 representing in one compartment the lover's kiss1 and in the second their two souls floating clasped together in ,hell through a rain of pale sulphurous flames4 ,between the compartments are two figures meant for ,dante and ,virgil1 with the words ,o ,lasso6 ,within the same period1 viz41 by ,october1 #ahee1 another ,dante subject1 ,the ,vision of ,rachel and ,leah1 was taken up and completed4 ,the ,passover drawing1 just referred to1 is a small1 unfinished water-colour1 in which once more ,rossetti has treated the domestic life of the ,holy ,family with a reverent freedom from conventionality1 such as ,millais used in ,the ,carpenter's ,shop and ,holman ,hunt in the ,finding of ,christ in the ,temple4 ,the ,passover was one of ,rossetti's very earliest designs1 having been sketched out first as far back as #ahdi2 it was the one selected for a memorial window to ,rossetti in the church at ,birchington-on-,sea1 where he was buried4 ,other drawings which are dated1 or were finished by #ahee1 though they may have been in hand considerably earlier1 are ,the ,nativity1 ,la ,belle ,dame sans ,mercy1 and the ,annunciation1 all water-colours4 ,in the last-named the ,virgin 7done from ,miss ,siddal7 is represented washing clothes in a stream1 whilst the angel ,gabriel stands by with folded wings1 between two trees3 both are in white1 and the picture shows a strong effect of sunlight4 ,in addition to the foregoing there must be chronicled under #ahee the first of the important and beautiful designs for woodcuts1 which in the absence of his pictures were almost the only means afforded to the public for many years of judging of ,rossetti's work4 ,this is a drawing for a poem in ,william ,allingham's ,day and ,night ,songs1 called ,the ,maids of ,elfen-,mere4 ,allingham was employed in the ,customs in ,ireland1 and at the period in question1 and for some years after1 ,rossetti and he were very intimate1 corresponding freely and vivaciously on all topics concerning their circle4 ,in #ahef were completed the water-colours of ,dante's ,dream and ,fra ,pace4 ,mr4 ,william ,morris1 who acquired several early water-colours by ,rossetti1 was apparently the first purchaser of ,fra ,pace4 ,the picture represents a kneeling monk busy illuminating at a desk4 ,he has worked so long that the cat has coiled itself up asleep upon his trailing robe4 ,a youthful acolyte is tickling it with a straw in order to beguile the tedium of the long silence4 ,the drawing is somewhat archaic in character and stiff in design1 but it is eminently characteristic of ,rossetti1 full of quaint conceits and humour1 from the row of little bottles that hold the good man's pigments to the dead mouse he is copying and the split pomegranate that lies uneaten by his side4 ,the ,dante's ,dream above mentioned is the first1 and in certain points most beautiful1 version of the subject which afterwards served for ,rossetti's largest picture1 the one in the ,walker ,art ,gallery at ,liverpool4 ,the water-colour is somewhat squarer in shape1 but the composition and pose of the five figures are very much the same as in the large ,liverpool picture4 ,in ,march1 #ahef1 ,rossetti secured an important commission--judged by the standard of his current work and prices--to paint a reredos in three compartments for the cathedral of ,llandaff1 which ,john ,p4 ,seddon was engaged in restoring4 ,the subject he chose for this undertaking was ,the ,seed of ,david1 showing in the centre-piece the infant ,christ on his mother's knee being adored by a shepherd and a king1 and on either side a single figure of ,david1 first as a shepherd-boy slinging the stone for ,goliath1 and secondly as a king harping to the glory of ,god4 ,the triptych was not completely finished until #ahfd1 and after that was considerably retouched in #ahfi1 when ,rossetti went down to ,llandaff for the purpose4 ,the year #ahef 7or1 if we take the date of publication1 #aheg7 deserves commemoration as the year of the famous ,moxon ,tennyson1 for which ,rossetti designed no fewer than five illustrations4 ,separate pen-and-ink drawings exist for most1 if not for all1 of these ,tennyson designs1 and water-colours were afterwards painted from three of them4 ,in point of number and interest the productions of #aheg are remarkable4 ,it was the year of the ,oxford frescoes1 for one thing1 though these dragged on till #ahei2 and it was the year of a charming little series of water-colours1 which were acquired one after the other by ,rossetti's newly-made acquaintance1 ,william ,morris1 who1 some time later1 being in want of capital for his own business1 sold them in a batch to their late possessor1 ,mr4 ,george ,rae4 ,these comprise3 7#a7 ,the ,damsel of the ,sanc ,grael1 robed in green1 holding a long-stemmed cup in her hand4 7#b7 ,the ,death of ,breuse sans ,piti1 one of the crudest and least successful of ,rossetti's water-colours4 7#c7 ,the ,chapel before the ,lists1 a scene suggested by ,malory of a lady helping to arm a kneeling knight1 her long white head-dress1 as she stoops to kiss him1 falling like a mantle down her blue dress4 ,upon the pointed shield of the knight is a figure of a maiden in distress4 ,beyond the chapel is a tented field1 and knights going forth to joust4 7#d7 ,the ,tune of ,seven ,towers1 a quaint little scene1 very characteristic of ,rossetti's fertility and originality of invention4 ,a lady in red with mediaeval head-dress is sitting in a high oaken chair1 which above towers up into a sort of belfry1 and is playing upon a musical instrument which also forms part of the chair4 ,a man in green doublet1 with long boots1 sits sideways on a stool close by watching her1 and a second lady stands mournfully behind4 ,a banner hangs down at the right from a pole which cuts the picture diagonally in half4 7#e7 ,the ,blue ,closet1 illustrated and described elsewhere4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,blue ,,closet4 ,the ,wedding of ,st4 ,george1 in the same collection1 belongs to this year1 but was not acquired from ,mr4 ,morris4 ,the old story of ,st4 ,george and the ,dragon had a powerful influence upon the romantic school to which ,rossetti belonged4 ,burne-,jones's variations upon it are well known1 and ,rossetti also1 besides treating it as a whole in a series of designs for stained glass windows1 painted ,st4 ,george more than once at typical stages of the adventure4 ,in this earliest version he is resting from his feat1 clad in armour1 with a gorgeous surcoat1 whilst the princess kneels and leans her head upon his breast1 cutting off a long dark lock of hair which she has bound upon the crest of his helmet4 ,the dragon's head1 a monstrous object1 stands grotesquely in one corner in a box with ropes attached for drawing it along4 ,in the background is a hedge of flowers and attendant angels playing on bells4 ,the artistic and romantic impulses stirring in ,england at the midpoint of the century had1 as we have seen1 produced one notable movement in the shape of the ,pre-,raphaelite ,brotherhood4 ,five or six years later they gave rise to another1 not less important1 and shortly afterwards a fusion of the two took place4 ,the second of these ,brotherhoods--the word was actually adopted for a time--had its origin at ,exeter ,college1 ,oxford1 in the personalities of ,william ,morris and ,edward ,burne-,jones1 and resolved itself at first1 like its forerunner1 into a crusade and holy warfare against the age1 with an added religious tinge which was hardly visible in the other4 ,the ,oxford group1 like the ,p4,r4,b41 published a magazine to illustrate1 not to preach1 their principles1 and had as a tangible link with ,rossetti the same warm appreciation of the beauties of the ,arthurian legend first introduced to their notice by ,burne-,jones4 ,in the ,christmas vacation of #ahee ,burne-,jones came up to ,london1 and after attending a meeting of the ,working ,men's ,college in order to see ,rossetti1 whom he and ,morris had already begun to worship1 he was introduced to him at ,vernon ,lushington's rooms in ,doctors' ,commons4 ,the next day he visited ,rossetti in his studio at ,blackfriars1 and saw him working on ,fra ,pace4 ,thus was laid the foundation of an alliance which even more potently than the ,p4,r4,b4 has changed the face of art in ,england1 and which resulted in the formation of a group that for combined poetic1 literary1 and artistic power is unapproached in the history of the nation4 ,incidentally1 it was this visit that determined ,burne-,jones--hankering after art1 but predestined for the ,church--to become a painter2 and no one can fail to be struck with the evidence of ,rossetti's influence upon his early work4 ,to the ,oxford and ,cambridge ,magazine1 ,william ,morris's organ1 which ran for the twelve months of #ahef1 ,rossetti contributed ,the ,burden of ,nineveh1 ,the ,blessed ,damozel 7a little altered from the ,germ version71 and ,the ,staff and ,scrip4 ,by the end of #ahef ,burne-,jones and ,morris had left ,oxford and were settled in ,london1 occupying the rooms at #ag1 ,red ,lion ,square1 which had formerly served as a studio for ,rossetti and ,deverell4 ,both were under the spell of ,rossetti's influence4 ,the mnage at ,red ,lion ,square lasted till #ahei1 and was a rallying point for all members of the circle4 ,from the incidents that occurred or were invented there1 says ,mr4 ,mackail1 a sort of ,book of the ,hundred ,merry ,tales gradually was formed1 of which ,morris was the central figure4 ,the rooms were the quaintest in all ,london1 as ,burne-,jones wrote1 hung with brasses of old knights and drawings of ,albert ,drer2 and in order to furnish them recourse had to be had to invention4 ,a local joiner was engaged to manufacture furniture from ,morris's own designs3 intensely mediaeval was ,rossetti's description of it to a friend1 tables and chairs like incubi and succubi4 ,next came the idea of painting pictures on walls1 cupboards1 and doors1 about the time that ,morris was planning to build himself at ,upton1 in the neighbourhood of ,bexley ,heath1 a palace of art the like of which should never have been seen4 ,in the general enthusiasm ,rossetti set to and designed a pair of panels for a cabinet--the subject of his early pen-and-ink drawing1 ,the ,salutation of ,beatrice1 representing in two compartments ,dante meeting ,beatrice in ,florence1 and again in ,paradise4 ,at the risk of repetition1 one may mention once more a side of the movement which is apt to be overshadowed by its far-reaching results2 namely1 the light-heartedness and sense of fun which prevailed amongst this band of artistic pioneers4 ,there was nothing of the mawkish affectation which discredited the aesthetes who came after4 ,when ,burne-,jones was down at ,upton1 helping to decorate the ,red ,house in #ahfj1 ,rossetti wrote to a mutual friend3 ,i wish you were in town1 to see you sometimes1 for ,i literally see no one now except ,madox ,brown pretty often1 and even he is gone to join ,morris1 who is out of reach at ,upton1 and with them is married ,jones painting the inner walls of the house that ,top built 7,morris was always called ',topsy' by his friends74 ,but as for the neighbours1 when they see men pourtrayed by ,jones upon the walls1 the images of the ,chaldeans pourtrayed 7by him67 in ,extract ,vermilion1 exceeding all probability in dyed attire upon their heads1 after the manner of no ,babylonians of any ,chaldea1 the land of anyone's nativity--as soon as they see them with their eyes1 shall they not account him doting and send messengers into ,colney ,hatch8 ,during the long vacation of #aheg ,rossetti went up to ,oxford with ,morris on a visit to the architect1 ,benjamin ,woodward1 who was at work upon a debating hall for the ,union ,society1 and seeing an opportunity for mural decoration of a kind never previously attempted in ,england in the new hall of the ,union1 he became fired with an idea for carrying it out4 ,the hall was a long building1 with an apse at each end1 and a gallery running all the way round4 ,in this gallery were bookcases1 and above the cases were ten semi-circular bays1 each pierced with a pair of circular windows4 ,these bays1 it was suggested1 should be painted with scenes from the ,arthurian legend1 and the roof1 as part of the general scheme1 was to be decorated in a harmonious manner4 ,a building committee was in charge of the operations1 and without any clear idea of its responsibilities or restrictions it fell in with ,rossetti's proposal that he and a select band of artists should execute the work gratuitously1 but that the ,union should defray their expenses at ,oxford and should provide all necessary materials4 ,the time estimated for completing the work was six weeks4 ,seven artists1 including ,rossetti1 ,burne-,jones1 and ,morris1 were enlisted without much trouble1 the remaining four being ,arthur ,hughes1 ,spencer ,stanhope1 ,val ,prinsep1 and ,j4 ,hungerford ,pollen1 who had already won much credit from his painting of the roof in ,merton ,college ,chapel4 ,rossetti took as subjects for two bays ,launcelot asleep before the ,chapel of the ,sanc ,grael and ,sir ,galahad1 ,sir ,bors and ,sir ,percival receiving the ,sanc ,grael4 ,the others chose similar themes1 but in a short time it was found that the work in hand was considerably more than had been anticipated1 though abundant evidence remains of the enthusiasm which was put into it4 ,unfortunately the delight was not to be of long duration4 ,almost before the pictures were finished they had begun to decay1 the effect of tempera laid direct upon a new brick wall1 with no preparation but a layer of whitewash1 being quite inadequate to resist the ,english climate4 ,several of the designs were never completed4 ,in #ahei some arrangement was entered into by the ,union with a ,mr4 ,riviere to fill the three blank compartments2 and after that the ill-fated undertaking1 on which so much pains and so much skill had been spent1 gradually faded away and resolved itself into what it is to-day1 a dingy blur of colours in which may be distinguished the occasional vague form of an armoured limb or a patch of flowery background4 ,rossetti's connection with ,oxford1 and its intercalation in his work1 does not end with the ,union paintings4 ,it was destined to furnish him with a more lasting influence--a face that to the end of his life haunted his pictures with an austere and solemn beauty1 dominating and transforming all other kinds1 so as even to give rise to the suggestion--a shallow and ignorant one1 it is true--that he painted but one type of face4 ,it was at the theatre1 one night in the summer of #aheg1 that ,rossetti and ,burne-,jones found themselves sitting near two youthful ,misses ,burden1 daughters of an ,oxford resident1 the elder of whom1 by her striking features and wealth of dark wavy hair1 appealed so forcibly to ,rossetti's painter eye that he obtained an introduction in order to ask for sittings4 ,a pen-and-ink head called ,queen ,guenevere1 now in the ,national ,gallery at ,dublin1 and evidently intended to replace the earlier studies done for ,launcelot at the ,shrine1 was one of the first fruits of this acquaintance1 which1 for the rest1 does not seem to have become really prolific of results until several years later1 when ,rossetti's wife was dead4 ,in the meantime ,william ,morris1 whose admiration went even further1 had married ,miss ,burden1 and the casual relationship of painter and sitter which existed between her and ,rossetti deepened into a friendship1 in which ,miss ,siddal participated1 both up to and after her marriage4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,work ,,from #aheh ,,to #ahfb ,the year #aheh1 while the ,oxford affair was still in train1 saw the completion of two pen-and-ink drawings which had been in hand a long time4 ,these were ,hamlet and ,ophelia and ,mary ,magdalene at the ,door of ,simon the ,pharisee4 ,illustration3 ,,mary ,,magdalene ,,at ,,the ,,house ,,of ,,simon ,,the ,,pharisee4 ,the drawing of ,mary ,magdalene1 perhaps the most perfect of all ,rossetti's early works1 was begun at least by #ahec1 and continued to occupy his thoughts in one form or another for many years4 ,rossetti wrote a sonnet for the picture1 which is found in his first volume1 called ,poems4 ,another subject finished in #aheh was ,mary in the ,house of ,john4 ,the scene is at late twilight1 or in an eastern night1 the red glow of the sky casting a purple light over the clustered dwellings of ,nazareth1 with deep blue hills beyond4 ,in the interior of the room are ,mary and ,st4 ,john1 the latter seated in shadow1 engaged in striking light from a flint2 whilst ,mary1 standing before the tall window1 fills a hanging lamp from a jar of oil4 ,another important item to be recorded under #aheh is a water-colour called ,before the ,battle1 painted for ,rossetti's ,american friend1 ,professor ,norton1 of ,harvard4 ,the most important work of #ahei is a highly-finished little head in oils1 called ,bocca ,baciata1 which was bought by the late ,mr4 ,boyce4 ,the model for this was ,miss ,fanny ,cornforth1 afterwards ,mrs4 ,schott1 whose florid type of beauty reappears in a series of sensuous pictures of the kind that ,rossetti began to paint after #ahfb--;,aurelia 7,fazio's ,mistress71 ,the ,blue ,bower1 ,the ,lady at her ,toilet1 ,lilith1 and ,the ,lady of the ,fan4 ,these pictures1 and numerous portraits in oil and water-colour1 give a sufficiently recognizable idea of this model1 who exercised almost as remarkable an influence over ,rossetti's life as over his art4 ,bonifazio's ,mistress1 a specially charming little water-colour1 was painted in #ahfj4 ,it shows a lady 7dressed in the same brightly be-ribanded flounces as ,lucretia ,borgia wears in the little #ahea group7 who has been sitting to her lover1 a painter1 when suddenly she has fallen back in her chair1 dead4 ,the connection of this subject with the poet1 ,bonifazio 7or ,fazio7 degli ,uberti is entirely fanciful4 ,there can be little doubt that it was intended to illustrate ,rossetti's own story of ,st4 ,agnes of ,intercession4 ,bonifazio's ,mistress has no connection whatever either in subject or composition with the oil painting of the same name done in #ahfc1 and afterwards re-named ,aurelia4 ,the latter is simply a three-quarter length figure of a lady plaiting her hair before a toilet glass4 ,this 7#ahfj7 was the year of ,rossetti's marriage1 as has already been stated1 and in ,june he was at ,paris on his honeymoon4 ,while there he executed two pen-and-ink drawings1 one of which was the design of ,how they met ,themselves1 done to replace the earlier version of #ahea1 which had been lost4 ,the other represents a scene from ,boswell's ,life of ,johnson1 a curious source of inspiration for ,rossetti1 rendered more remarkable from the fact that the incident chosen is of a humorous and spicy character4 ,dr4 ,maxwell told the story how two young women from ,staffordshire had come up to town to consult ,johnson about ,methodism1 in which they were much interested4 ,come1 said he1 you pretty fools1 dine with ,maxwell and me at the ,mitre1 and we will talk over that subject2 which they did1 and after dinner he took one of them on his knee1 and fondled her for half-an-hour together4 ,in #ahfa ,rossetti's translations from the ,italian poets were at last published1 together with the ,vita ,nuova4 ,rossetti thought out a very charming design of two lovers kissing in a rose-garden1 which he proposed to etch on copper for the title-page4 ,the plate1 however1 displeased him1 and he destroyed it4 ,the central idea of this design reappears in ,love's ,greeting1 a panel designed for the ,red ,house1 and in a water-colour of #ahfd inscribed ,roman de la ,rose1 in which ,love appears overshadowing the kissing pair with his wings4 ,in #ahfa was painted1 on a little panel1 #aj by #h inches1 a portrait of ,mrs4 ,rossetti1 called ,regina ,cordium or ,the ,queen of ,hearts1 showing just the head and bare shoulders1 on a gold ground1 behind a parapet on which rests one hand holding a purple pansy4 ,a more important outcome of the year is the fine composition known as ,cassandra4 ,the subject is a scene on the walls of ,troy just before ,hector's last battle4 ,rossetti wrote two sonnets for the drawing which will be found in his volume of ,poems4 ,about this time 7#ahfa-ahfb7 the firm of ,morris1 ,marshall1 ,faulkner and ,co4 was just being started1 with ,william ,morris1 ,rossetti1 ,faulkner1 ,burne-,jones1 ,madox ,brown1 ,webb1 and others as the active promoters of a venture which was to reform the arts of decoration and furniture making4 ,tapestry1 furniture1 wallpapers1 stained glass1 painted panels1 and later on carpet-weaving and dyeing1 were among the industries to which this band of highly original artists and designers turned their attention4 ,the ,anglo-,catholic movement and the demand for decoration of an aesthetic and sensuous kind gave the new firm plenty to do1 amongst their first commissions being the embellishment of two new churches then being built by ,bodley1 ,st4 ,martin's on the ,hill1 ,scarborough1 and ,st4 ,michael's at ,brighton4 ,for the former ,rossetti executed a design for two pulpit panels and several windows1 achieving from the very first a mastery over this branch of art which few designers have surpassed4 ,it is characteristic of his original mind that he went right back to the fundamental principles of vitraux1 paying no attention whatever to the elaborations which had grown round them1 and recognizing that a picture which was transparent1 that is1 seen by transmitted light1 must be conceived in flat tones and not made to give the illusion of shading1 as can be done in the case of a surface from which the light is reflected4 ,the ,paolo and ,francesca water-colour is generally attributed to the year #ahfa1 although no particular authority exists for this beyond an auctioneer's catalogue4 ,this beautiful little water-colour represents the first compartment of the double subject4 ,in it ,paolo and ,francesca are seated before a window bearing the arms of ,malatesta4 ,outside is a bright and sunny landscape4 ,the lovers have stopped in the midst of their reading to give the fatal kiss that sealed their doom4 ,in #ahfa or #ahfb ,rossetti designed two woodcuts for his sister ,christina's ,goblin ,market1 published by ,messrs4 ,macmillan4 ,in #ahfe he drew two more designs for ,the ,prince's ,progress4 ,the covers for these two little volumes1 as well as for his own when they appeared1 were designed by ,rossetti1 and are as original and effective and tasteful as his decorative work invariably was4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,settling ,,at ,,chelsea4 ,,work1 #ahfc ,,to #ahgd ,after the tragic death of his wife1 on ,february #aath1 #ahfb1 ,rossetti could no longer bear to occupy the rooms they had inhabited at ,chatham ,place1 and began to seek for others4 ,in the meantime he took lodgings for a few months in a house in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields4 ,he had a fancy for getting away from the crowd of ,london1 and yet for being near the river1 which caused him to examine one or two old houses in the then by no means fashionable neighbourhoods of ,hammersmith and ,chelsea4 ,he finally decided in favour of ,no4 #af1 ,cheyne ,walk1 a house which from some traditional association with ,queen ,elizabeth became known as ,tudor ,house and is now called ,queen's ,house4 ,it is also said to have been described by ,thackeray in ,esmond as the home of the old ,countess of ,chelsey4 ,here he started a joint mnage with ,mr4 ,swinburne1 ,mr4 ,george ,meredith1 and 7at casual intervals7 his brother4 ,mr4 ,meredith's subtenancy was not of long duration2 in point of fact he never really occupied his rooms4 ,but ,mr4 ,swinburne remained long enough to have shared very considerably the traditions which soon grew up round ,tudor ,house1 and whilst there wrote the most famous of his dramas1 ,atalanta in ,calydon1 as well as many of the ,poems and ,ballads1 and a portion of ,chastelard4 ,the gloom which at first had threatened ,rossetti gradually wore away before the robustness of his nature2 settling into and furnishing his house on new1 and at that time practically unheard-of1 principles1 afforded abundant distraction2 and for some years1 until his own illness intervened1 ,rossetti played the genial and charming host to many old friends of his intimate group1 and to an increasing circle of new ones who were attracted by sympathy or by the growing glamour of his name4 ,one of the charms of the house at ,chelsea was its long garden1 more than an acre in extent1 with an avenue of trees on to which the studio looked4 ,as time went on this garden became tenanted with a miscellaneous assortment of birds and animals1 round which a veritable saga of anecdote has gathered4 ,these1 with his affection for bric--brac1 his spontaneous generosity1 his ever-ready wit1 his love of good stories1 and his endless flow of vers d'esprit1 form a contrast to the somewhat sombre atmosphere in which he sought his inspirations1 and in which1 owing to the seclusion of his later years1 he was popularly supposed to live4 ,to resume the thread of ,rossetti's work1 the well-known picture of ,beata ,beatrix1 now in the ,national ,collection1 bears date #ahfc1 but was only partially painted in that year1 the completion being long delayed4 ,one reason for the difficulty may have been that ,rossetti desired to make this picture a living memorial of his wife1 and that no regular studies of the face had been done for it4 ,what he felt about it we may gather from the fact that for some years he refused to send out a replica1 even when replicas had become a regular and lucrative form of business4 ,in the end1 however1 he was prevailed upon to paint more than one repetition of the subject1 none however equal in quality to the original4 ,to #ahfc belongs a small oil picture called ,helen of ,troy1 a full-faced study1 head and shoulders only1 of a rather pretty model1 with masses of rippling yellow hair4 ,the last of the ,st4 ,george subjects also belongs to this year1 and represents ,st4 ,george in the act of slaying the dragon2 a water-colour version of one of the incidents in a series designed for windows1 but treated a little differently4 ,next come three small subjects3 ,belcolore1 a very finely painted head of a girl biting a rosebud2 ,brimfull1 a water-colour sketch of a lady stooping to sip from a glass2 and thirdly1 a picture called ,a ,lady in ,yellow1 belonging to ,mr4 ,beresford ,heaton4 ,we are now entering upon the period when ,rossetti ceased to paint small heads and began to devote himself to larger single figure subjects1 lavishing upon them the wealth of his fine imagination1 and surrounding them with quaint and beautiful accessories such as he alone knew how to select4 ,the first picture of this type1 and in point of execution one of the very finest1 is ,fazio's ,mistress1 a small oil painting dated #ahfc1 but considerably altered ten years later1 when ,rossetti renamed it ,aurelia4 ,the year #ahfd contains two or three more prominent examples of ,rossetti's attraction towards a luxuriant and seductive type of feminine beauty4 ,the most important is ,lady ,lilith1 which embodies perhaps the fullest expression of ,rossetti's power in this direction4 ,adam's mythical first wife is shown as a beautiful woman leaning back on a couch combing her long fair hair1 while with cold dispassionateness she surveys her features in a hand mirror4 ,body's ,beauty ,rossetti called the picture afterwards1 contrasting it with his conception of ,soul's ,beauty1 the ,sibylla ,palmifera of #ahff-gj4 ,still in the same vein--of ,women and ,flowers--is the next great picture begun in #ahfd1 the ,venus ,verticordia4 ,the principal version of this1 an oil painting1 was not finished until some time in #ahfh4 ,the earliest in point of date is a little water-colour commissioned as a replica1 which was delivered during the year4 ,the picture represents the goddess of beauty undraped and standing in a bower of clustering honeysuckle which hides her to the waist4 ,in her left hand she holds an apple1 in her right a dart upon which is poised a sulphur butterfly4 ,others are hovering round4 ,behind is the grove of ,venus1 and a blue bird winging its way through space4 ,the remaining productions of #ahfd are all in water-colour4 ,they include ,morning ,music1 ,monna ,pomona1 ,sir ,galahad1 ,sir ,bors1 and ,sir ,percival--belonging to ,rossetti's earlier manner2 ,roman de la ,rose1 and ,the ,madness of ,ophelia1 a scene representing ,laertes leading ,ophelia away1 whilst the king and queen are looking on4 ,in #ahfe was painted the ,blue ,bower1 a picture of the ,lilith group1 done from the ,lilith model1 and representing in a setting of gorgeous blue and green harmonies a woman playing upon a dulcimer4 ,the ,merciless ,lady1 which was painted in #ahfe1 is a return to ,rossetti's early romantic compositions1 and is a particularly charming specimen4 ,nor was it his only water-colour of this year1 though indisputably the best4 ,for ,mr4 ,craven he painted the subject called ,washing ,hands--with the exception of ,dr4 ,johnson at the ,mitre1 his one experiment in 7eighteenth century costume4 ,another called ,a ,fight for a ,woman1 is one of ,rossetti's most spirited drawings4 ,in point of invention this design goes back to very early days1 as is proved by the existence of tentative sketches dating from about #ahec4 ,to the same date belongs the oil painting called originally ,bella e ,buona1 but renamed by ,rossetti ,il ,ramoscello in #ahgc1 when it was taken back by him for retouching4 ,it is a half-length figure1 dressed in slate green1 and holding an acorn branch4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,beloved4 ,we now come to one of the most beautiful pictures1 if not the most beautiful1 that ,rossetti ever painted--,the ,beloved4 ,no one who has not seen it1 with a warm sunlight bringing out its colour1 can form the most remote conception of its brilliance4 ,i mean it to be like jewels1 wrote ,rossetti to its late owner1 ,mr4 ,rae2 and jewel-like it flashes4 ,the picture itself is described in a later chapter1 amongst those selected for illustration4 ,in #ahff1 the year in which the ,beloved was finished1 ,rossetti started upon a second great picture of the same type1 the ,monna ,vanna1 a three-quarter length figure draped in magnificent gold and white brocade1 and toying with a large fan4 ,this was commissioned by ,mr4 ,rae1 as was also ,sibylla ,palmifera1 the third of the series1 begun about the same time but not completed until #ahgj4 ,rossetti's sonnet entitled ,soul's ,beauty describes the subject--a ,sibyl seated on a throne and bearing a branch of palm4 ,the record of #ahff closes with an oil portrait of the painter's mother1 towards whom at all periods of his life his devotion was exemplary2 a large crayon drawing of ,christina ,rossetti1 with her thoughtful face resting on her hands2 and two designs for her second volume of poems1 ,the ,prince's ,progress4 ,in #ahfg ,rossetti painted the oil ,christmas ,carol for ,mr4 ,rae1 an entirely different subject from the early water-colour4 ,this is a half-length figure of a girl1 draped in a gold and purple robe of ,eastern stuff1 and playing upon a species of lute4 ,two small but pretty pictures of the same date are ,joli ,cur and ,monna ,rosa4 ,the first represents a coy-looking maiden fingering her necklace1 whilst ,monna ,rosa is chiefly a study in beautiful colour1 representing a lady in a dress of pale emerald green1 with golden fruit worked upon it1 plucking a rose from a tree planted in a blue jar4 ,the next item of #ahfg is the exquisite ,loving ,cup4 ,the subject is a lady raising a golden cup to her lips1 and standing against a background of fair embroidered linen1 surmounted by a row of heavy brazen plates4 ,the year #ahfh was cut into by ,rossetti's breakdown in health and sudden anxiety about his eyesight4 ,nevertheless1 he painted the portrait of ,mrs4 ,william ,morris1 in a blue dress1 seated at a table before a glass of flowers1 which many competent judges regard as one of his very finest pictures1 and which was the prelude to that long series of noble canvases by which he has become best known to the public4 ,mrs4 ,morris has lent her portrait to the ,national ,gallery1 where it hangs 7at ,millbank7 beside the ,ecce ,ancilla and the ,beata ,beatrix4 ,other productions of the same year1 which closes the period of ,rossetti's best work1 were ,bionda del ,balcone2 ,aurea ,catena1 a fine drawing of ,mrs4 ,morris2 two studies for a future picture1 ,la ,pia1 and some small replicas of no particular importance4 ,the insomnia which began to attack ,rossetti in his thirty-ninth year1 and which was the indirect cause of his subsequent breakdown1 led him in #ahfi to drop work for a time and to take a holiday at ,penkill ,castle in ,ayrshire1 the residence of an old friend4 ,the visit is of interest1 because it was not until this occasion that he gave a serious thought to the publishing of his early poems1 some of which were still going about in manuscript in a more or less finished condition1 though others were buried in his wife's grave4 ,as a relief from the strain of painting1 moreover1 he began to write again4 ,his first idea was to have the poems1 such of them as he could collect or recall from memory1 set up in type to keep by him as a nucleus for a possible volume2 gradually1 however1 the idea of publishing outright grew or was forced upon him2 and the last obstacle to this1 the loss of so much of his early work1 was finally removed one day in ,october1 #ahfi1 when1 after a consent wrung from him very reluctantly1 the grave was opened1 and the manuscript poems recovered4 ,in #ahgj the book appeared1 having as publisher ,mr4 ,f ,s4 ,ellis1 of ,king ,street1 ,covent ,garden4 ,the poems proved an immediate and lucrative success1 and were favourably reviewed except for the single attack made upon them in a pseudonymous article by the late ,mr4 ,buchanan4 ,the effect of even one attack1 however1 and it was admittedly a very unfair and bitter attack1 on a man of ,rossetti's temperament1 suffering from nervous fancies1 and troubled by want of sleep1 was disastrous4 ,he viewed as a great conspiracy against him what other men1 in sounder health1 would have been able to disregard1 and the effect was unhappily permanent4 ,he had begun to acquire the habit of taking chloral as a cure for sleeplessness1 without knowing1 what is well known now1 its lamentable after-effect1 and for a short time1 if one may accept his brother's judgment1 ,rossetti was hardly to be regarded as sane4 ,a severe breakdown caused him to be removed once more to ,scotland1 where after a complete rest he was enabled to resume painting1 and in ,september1 #ahgb1 he joined with ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,morris in taking the old ,elizabethan ,manor ,house of ,kelmscott1 on the borders of ,oxfordshire and ,gloucestershire4 ,his work here consisted to a large extent in repainting many of his old pictures1 which he had sent to him for the purpose4 ,in this way he worked upon the ,lilith1 ,beloved1 ,monna ,vanna1 and other important canvases1 including even the little early ,ecce ,ancilla ,domini4 ,rossetti left ,kelmscott in ,july1 #ahgd1 and returned to ,london2 and that was the end of his connection with the quiet ,gloucestershire retreat1 which thenceforward became associated solely with the life of ,william ,morris4 ,during the years #ahfi to #ahga1 and the two following which ,rossetti spent at ,kelmscott1 he was at work on a number of fairly important new canvases in addition to the retouching of old ones4 ,a sprinkling of crayons and small pictures also has to be mentioned4 ,these include the ,rosa ,triplex1 a study of three heads from one sitter1 now in the ,tate ,gallery1 and ,penelope1 a crayon drawing of a seated figure1 which is unique in the respect that it was done from a favourite model of ,sir ,edward ,burne-,jones4 ,throughout the year #ahgj1 with one or two exceptions1 ,mrs4 ,morris's is the face which figures in ,rossetti's work4 ,it is to be seen1 for instance1 in the fine picture called ,mariana1 really a first attempt at the portrait in the ,tate ,gallery lent by ,mrs4 ,morris1 to which a second figure was subsequently added4 ,in #ahga he painted the picture of ,pandora1 of which ,mr4 ,swinburne says1 in his ,essays and ,studies1 that it is amongst the mightiest of all ,rossetti's works in its ,god-like terror and imperial trouble of beauty4 ,the figure is clad in a long robe of ,venetian red1 and is holding the fateful casket1 from which issues a red smoke1 curling all round into clustering shapes1 like flame-winged seraph curses4 ,water-willow1 a little quarter-length figure with a river landscape behind1 done in the same year1 is interesting from the fact that it is a portrait of ,mrs4 ,morris1 and that the view represents ,kelmscott4 ,we now come to the picture of ,dante's ,dream1 begun in #ahgj and finished towards the close of #ahga1 ,rossetti's most important work in the opinion of many people1 and considerably his largest4 ,the subject is that of the little early water-colour painted in #ahef1 namely the vision related by ,dante as having come to him of ,beatrice lying in death1 and the angels bearing upward her soul in the form of an exceedingly white cloud4 ,the picture is more fully described elsewhere4 ,illustration3 ,,mariana4 ,impressive as ,dante's ,dream may be1 it is not to be classed on all grounds with ,rossetti's finest work4 ,yet it has been the object of boundless admiration4 ,it has even been said that if no other of ,rossetti's works survived but this and the ,beata ,beatrix1 they alone would be enough to ensure him a place among the few great artists of the world4 ,the next great subject in point of date1 namely ,proserpine1 has a complicated history attached to it4 ,rossetti began the picture upon canvas four times in #ahgb1 with ill-success4 ,he took it up again in #ahgc and painted a fine version which was spoilt in straining4 ,this was replaced in the same year by a second fine one which arrived at its destination damaged by an accident in transit4 ,a third large picture had therefore to be painted in #ahgd1 which still exists1 and finally the damaged picture was patched and partially repainted in #ahgg1 which is the date it bears in the corner4 ,this is the finest and best known version1 and is the one of which an autotype reproduction has been published4 ,there are sundry other replicas and crayon studies of the subject which have not been mentioned1 but of the earlier attempts nothing now seems to be left in the form of pictures1 the canvases having been cut down into the form of single heads4 ,in all these pictures the subject is the same4 ,the ravished bride of ,pluto is seen standing in a corridor of ,hades1 lighted by a bluish subterranean light1 and holding in one hand the pomegranate of which she ate one fatal seed that bound her for ever to her destiny4 ,in none of the pictures done from ,mrs4 ,morris do we find so appropriate the distant air of melancholy with which the painter contrived to invest her features4 ,of the other pictures painted at ,kelmscott perhaps the most successful is ,veronica ,veronese1 supposed to be taken from a passage in the letters of ,girolamo ,ridolfi1 which describes how a lady1 after listening to the notes of a bird1 tries to commit them to paper1 and finally to reproduce them on her violin4 ,in the picture the ,lady ,veronica is robed in a rich gown of ,rossetti's favourite green1 with yellow daffodils in a glass beside her4 ,the bird1 a canary1 is perched on a cage above her4 ,she sits at a cabinet1 on which is a sheet with the musical notes she has been writing down2 and listening with dreamy blue eyes to the bird's song she lets her thumb wander over the strings of the violin suspended on the wall before her4 ,before leaving the year #ahgb there is a minor but interesting episode to record4 ,in this year ,rossetti took up an old background of trees and foliage which he had painted in #ahej1 in his ,pre-,raphaelite days1 when studying with ,holman ,hunt at ,knole ,park1 near ,sevenoaks4 ,nothing had ever been done to it since2 but now ,rossetti painted in two women playing instruments and a group of dancing figures1 for which very charming crayon studies were made1 and called it ,the ,bower ,meadow4 ,this interesting combination of early and late styles now belongs to ,sir ,j4 ,d4 ,milburn1 of ,newcastle4 ,la ,ghirlandata1 the next great oil picture by ,rossetti1 is dated #ahgc1 and is one of those which has already crossed the ,atlantic to the bourne whence works of art but seldom return4 ,the picture represents a lady playing upon a garlanded harp1 in the midst of a forest clearing1 where angel faces peer down upon her1 and mystical blue birds cleave the air4 ,the whole is a subtle blending of subdued colour1 where blue and green strive for the mastery4 ,beautiful as it is in these respects1 ,la ,ghirlandata lacks the invention and the interest of ,rossetti's more vigorous early work4 ,the ,damsel of the ,sanc ,grael1 painted in #ahgd for ,mr4 ,rae1 is a very different picture from the little water-colour of #ahef-g4 ,there was a simplicity and primitiveness about the latter which accorded well with the mediaeval sanctity surrounding the subject4 ,when ,rossetti came to paint the picture again in his later manner1 he represented the austere damsel of the holy mysteries as a handsome girl with flowing chestnut hair1 bright lips1 and languishing eyes1 sumptuously robed in a red gown with a heavily-flowered mantle4 ,in painting this picture ,rossetti probably did not seek much beyond mere beauty of form and decoration1 in the attainment of which he has succeeded perfectly2 and the same may be said in part of a better-known production of the same year1 the much-praised ,roman ,widow1 which represents a lady seated by the marble tomb of her husband4 ,a large unfinished canvas1 painted simply in grisaille1 called ,the ,boat of ,love1 was begun at this time but abandoned in #ahha4 ,after ,rossetti's death it was bought for the ,birmingham ,corporation ,art ,gallery1 where it is now exhibited4 ,it may be mentioned that the ,birmingham ,gallery possesses an unequalled collection of ,rossetti's drawings1 recently acquired 7#aijf7 through the munificence of two or three local donors4 ,one other subject dated #ahgd is intimately bound up with ,kelmscott4 ,this is an oil picture called by a variety of names--,marigolds1 ,fleurs de ,marie1 ,the ,gardener's ,daughter1 etc41 but representing in actual fact a young girl standing in a room1 and reaching up to place a mass of yellow marigolds and lilies in a flower vase upon a high cabinet of inlaid wood4 ,the model is said to have been the gardener's daughter at ,kelmscott1 not that the detail signifies1 except as connecting the picture with the place4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,close ,,of ,,the ,,record4 #ahgd-ahhb ,one of the first incidents to be recorded after ,rossetti's return to ,london in #ahgd was the dissolution of the partnership of ,morris1 ,marshall1 ,faulkner and ,co41 and the re-construction of the firm under the sole management of ,william ,morris4 ,the dissolution was not effected without some unpleasantness1 resulting in the estrangement of ,morris and ,brown4 ,morris and ,rossetti never actually quarrelled2 but from #ahgd onwards the two men seldom saw each other1 ,rossetti's recluse habits of life being possibly responsible to some extent for the severance4 ,the latter part of #ahge and the first half of #ahgf ,rossetti spent at ,bognor1 and after that he visited the ,cowper-,temples 7afterwards ,lord and ,lady ,mount ,temple7 at ,broadlands in ,hampshire1 being then engaged upon his picture of ,the ,blessed ,damozel4 ,in #ahgg he had a very severe physical illness1 due to an uraemic affection which had been set up in #ahgb1 and which eventually was the active cause of his death4 ,he was removed to a little cottage near ,herne ,bay1 and at one time gave up all hope of resuming his profession4 ,at last1 says ,mr4 ,william ,rossetti1 the power and the determination returned simultaneously2 he drew an admirable crayon-group of our mother and sister1 two others equally good of the latter1 and yet another of our mother4 ,weather had been favourable1 spirits and energy revived1 and he came back to town nerved once more for the battle of life and of art4 ,the group of ,mrs4 and ,miss ,rossetti is now in the ,national ,portrait ,gallery4 ,after #ahgg ,rossetti seldom if ever went beyond the doors of ,no4 #af1 ,cheyne ,walk1 and as he suffered from fits of melancholy1 and disliked being alone1 a few faithful friends formed the practice of coming to visit him by turns4 ,mr4 ,theodore ,watts was a more constant attendant1 and had a bed at his disposal4 ,a good number of acquaintances also frequented the house1 some of them much more intimate than others and dating back in their relations to about #ahff4 ,among these may be mentioned the artists ,j4 ,m4 ,whistler and ,alphonse ,legros1 ,frederick ,shields1 ,f4 ,a4 ,sandys and ,fairfax ,murray4 ,in #ahgh1 or thereabouts1 ,rossetti's devotion to poetry received a fresh impulse1 and he set himself assiduously to the production of sonnets4 ,it was not until #ahhj1 however1 that he began really to compile materials for a new volume4 ,in that year he wrote ,the ,white ,ship1 and in the year following ,the ,king's ,tragedy4 ,finally1 by ,march of #ahha the copy for ,ballads and ,sonnets was complete1 and was accepted by ,messrs4 ,ellis and ,white on the same terms as the first book4 ,at the same time the latter1 which was by now out of print1 underwent some material alterations and was re-published in a new form4 ,the pictures for #ahge include ,la ,bella ,mano1 which represents a lady washing her beautiful hands in a scalloped basin of brass2 also some of the studies for the ,blessed ,damozel1 a finished pen-and-ink study for a great picture of #ahgg1 the ,astarte ,syriaca1 and a large pencil drawing called ,the ,question or ,the ,sphinx4 ,illustration3 ,,astarte ,,syriaca4 7,by permission of the ,art ,gallery ,committee of the ,manchester ,corporation47 ,the following year was mainly devoted to the ,blessed ,damozel1 an attempt to realize on canvas ,rossetti's early poem which first appeared in ,the ,germ4 ,the picture is a very fine one4 ,rossetti filled in the background behind the stooping figure of the damozel with a heavenly landscape1 in which were countless pairs of embracing lovers4 ,in #ahgg he added a predella representing the earthly lover gazing up through space1 and in #ahgi he painted a replica1 omitting the background of lovers and substituting two angel heads rather suggestive of those which occur in ,la ,ghirlandata4 ,the year #ahgg contains but three items1 two of which are1 however1 the important oil-pictures ,astarte ,syriaca and ,the ,sea-,spell4 ,the third was a ,magdalen bearing the vase of spikenard4 ,astarte ,syriaca is a massive figure1 with face and hair strongly reminiscent of ,mrs4 ,morris4 ,it was bought at its first owner's death for the ,corporation ,art ,gallery of ,manchester4 ,the two finished items of #ahgh--;for as the years advance the output grows less and less--are ,a ,vision of ,fiammetta and a water-colour study of a head called ,bruna ,brunelleschi4 ,fiammetta is a fine and striking conception1 representing on a life-size scale the lady beloved by ,boccaccio1 to whom he addressed the sonnet which begins3 ,round her red garland and her golden hair1 ,i saw a fire about ,fiammetta's head4 ,the sitter for ,fiammetta was ,mrs4 ,w4 ,j4 ,stillman4 ,la ,donna della ,finestra was painted in #ahgi4 ,this ,lady of the ,window1 also known as ,the ,lady of ,pity1 is she who in ,dante's ,vita ,nuova is described as looking down upon the poet one day when he was overcome with grief4 ,the head is taken from ,mrs4 ,morris1 much modified by the conventions which ,rossetti at this time introduced into all his faces4 ,not the least charming feature of the picture is the clustering mass of beautifully painted fig-leaves growing up to the balcony in which the lady sits4 ,during #ahhj and #ahha ,rossetti was occupied with three large pictures1 ,the ,day ,dream1 ,the ,salutation of ,beatrice1 and ,la ,pia2 with ,found1 which had been re-commissioned by ,mr4 ,william ,graham2 and with several replicas1 of which the most important was the smaller ,dante's ,dream4 ,the ,day ,dream is a portrait of ,mrs4 ,morris seated in the lower branches of a sycamore tree4 ,la ,pia1 the last original picture painted by ,rossetti1 depicts the story of ,pia de' ,tolomei1 told in the fifth canto of the ,purgatorio4 ,in ,rossetti's canvas she is seen1 sitting forward in a window1 gazing out over the poisonous ,maremma from the fortress where her husband had placed her to die4 ,found1 which was one of the first pictures ,rossetti attempted1 was never completed4 ,after ,rossetti's death1 as already mentioned1 ,sir ,edward ,burne-,jones added a little work to it1 and in this condition it was taken over by the purchaser4 ,it is now in ,america4 ,with this we come to an end of ,rossetti's work as a painter4 ,it remains briefly to close the record of his life4 ,in ,september1 #ahha1 ,rossetti1 accompanied by ,mr4 ,hall ,caine1 undertook an expedition to the lake district of ,cumberland2 but after a month his health1 which at first had appeared to benefit1 became alarmingly bad1 and he returned hurriedly to ,london4 ,after a partial recovery from this illness his work was once more interrupted in ,december by an attack of nervous paralysis1 traceable to the effects of the drug he had been taking4 ,in ,february1 #ahhb1 he was taken to ,birchington-on-,sea1 where a cottage had been placed at his disposal1 and here he died on the #ajth of ,april4 ,he was buried1 quietly and simply1 in the little churchyard at ,birchington1 where a stone monument has been erected by his family in the form of a ,celtic cross designed by ,madox ,brown4 ,a memorial window embodying his own early design of ,the ,passover1 adapted by ,mr4 ,shields1 was also set up in the adjoining church4 ,so passed away1 in the fifty-fourth year of his life1 one of the most original artists of our time2 ,i will not say one of the greatest painters1 for that would invite controversy as to points in which he was1 and knew himself to be1 deficient4 ,but as an artist1 as one who saw1 and could interpret and depict beautiful things in a beautiful way1 there can be no two questions about ,rossetti's greatness4 ,never before has one man blended so perfectly the sister gifts of poetry and painting that it was impossible to pronounce in which he was superior4 ,to complain1 as some have done1 of the mediaeval quality of his subjects is foolish4 ,as well complain that fairy tales are old4 ,rossetti was mediaeval in his thoughts and tastes4 ,without any affectation or straining for effect he lived his intellectual life in a mystical1 richly-coloured world of romantic knights and ladies4 ,these1 and not the hedgerows or buttercups of to-day1 were what came to the surface in his creative moods4 ,we have witnessed in these latter years a great revival of romance1 springing up in various ways all over the continent of ,europe4 ,of this revival in ,england1 on the side of pictorial art1 ,rossetti was the fountain head4 ,the gentle melancholy that pervades his work was derived from his namesake ,dante1 to whom he was doubly allied by ties of birth and sentiment4 ,he was moreover driven by something like the same unrelaxing stress and fervour of temperament1 so that even in middle age it seemed scarcely less true to say of ,rossetti than of ,dante himself3 ',like flame within the naked hand1 ,his body bore his burning heart4' ,the direction of his influence1 and of the ,pre-,raphaelite movement generally1 has been worked out in a scholarly manner by ,mr4 ,percy ,bate1 in a book called ,the ,english ,pre-,raphaelite ,painters1 where an attempt is made for the first time to trace the artistic lineage of such diverse executants as ,mr4 ,spencer ,stanhope1 ,mr4 ,walter ,crane1 ,mr4 ,strudwick1 ,mrs4 de ,morgan1 ,mr4 ,byam ,shaw1 and others4 ,on many of these the influence of ,burne-,jones is more evident than that of ,rossetti2 but ,burne-,jones himself owed much to ,rossetti at the critical period of his career4 ,the subject of ,rossetti's art is one that presents difficulty1 on account of the semi-privacy which surrounded it during the painter's lifetime4 ,the subject of ,rossetti himself is more difficult still4 ,it has become a sort of fashion to decry the man1 and to forget the genius1 among some who knew him only in his latest years--perhaps by hearsay mainly4 ,stories of his want of consideration for others1 his egotism1 his shabby treatment of patrons1 his ungoverned temper1 are reeled off with a sort of zest1 as though they summed up the man4 ,but in ,rossetti good and bad were1 as usual1 inextricably mixed up1 with a strong preponderance towards the former4 ,there were periods when his brilliant1 impulsive1 magnetic personality swamped the most audacious faults4 ,for a man to stand out above his fellows is often enough a signal for petty jealousy and stone-throwing4 ,but in such cases1 one may remark1 it is not always a ,david who prepares the sling1 nor is it always the giant who is on the side of the ,philistines4 ,,our ,,illustrations ,rossetti's record as a painter divides itself naturally into three periods1 beginning with a fairly numerous series of small romantic water-colours1 which to many people represent the most charming1 if not the most mature1 feature of his work4 ,the subjects for these were selected largely from ,browning1 from the ,vita ,nuova of ,dante1 and from the ,arthurian legends1 themes which appealed irresistibly to his imaginative mind1 and which formed a common link between the members of the ,pre-,raphaelite ,brotherhood and the later group of young ,oxford men which included ,william ,morris and ,burne-,jones4 ,practically the only oil pictures painted by ,rossetti during this period were the ,girlhood of ,mary ,virgin1 and the little ,ecce ,ancilla ,domini1 now in the ,tate ,gallery at ,millbank4 ,this period came to an end in #ahfb1 with the death of ,rossetti's wife1 and the beautiful ,beata ,beatrix 7also in the ,tate ,gallery7 which was really a memorial of her pure features1 was followed by a number of magnificent canvases painted from models of a rich and sumptuous type1 amongst which may be specially mentioned ,the ,beloved1 ,monna ,vanna1 and ,sibylla ,palmifera1 ,lady ,lilith1 the ,venus ,verticordia1 ,the ,loving ,cup1 ,veronica ,veronese1 ,the ,bower ,meadow1 ,la ,ghirlandata1 ,sea ,spell1 and ,la ,bella ,mano4 ,lastly comes a large group of single figure subjects painted from1 or based on1 the dark and almost exotic features of ,mrs4 ,william ,morris4 ,of these may be named in particular ,mariana1 ,pandora1 ,proserpine1 ,astarte ,syriaca1 ,la ,donna della ,finestra1 ,the ,day ,dream1 and ,rossetti's last finished picture ,la ,pia4 ,owing to an invincible dislike for exhibitions1 and the secrecy which in consequence hung over ,rossetti's work1 the two earlier groups were hardly seen by the public at all until after his death1 and his fame1 when it spread1 was based chiefly upon the large canvases of the latest group1 which may account for the very general belief that ,rossetti painted only from one type of sitter1 with somewhat exaggerated characteristics1 a further error which may be explained by the mannerisms which undoubtedly beset him towards the close of his life1 when his health had failed permanently and his eyesight was no longer at its best4 ,of the earliest pictures1 painted for the most part when ,rossetti was little more than a boy1 the following are selected for illustration3 7#a7 ,ecce ,ancilla ,domini1 which was exhibited in #ahej and helped to bear the brunt of the vigorous onslaught which was made in that year upon the pictures of the newly formed ,pre-,raphaelite ,brotherhood4 ,there is nothing which could possibly shock us now in the simple1 girl-like figure of ,rossetti's ,virgin1 crouching in half-awakened awe upon her pallet couch before the grave-faced angel who is holding out to her a lily4 ,in many ways it is a far more reverent treatment of the scene than one is accustomed to in old ,italian canvases with their sumptuously robed madonnas and angels gay with peacock-wings and jewelled trappings4 ,the painting1 too1 is a masterpiece for so young and inexperienced an artist1 full of skill in the handling of white draperies and restrained in the use of colour4 ,the only bright notes in the picture are the crimson cloth worked with a lily1 upon a stand at the foot of the bed1 and the blue curtain at its head4 ,everything else is subdued and faint with the clear light of an ,english1 not an ,eastern1 dawn1 seen through the open window which frames the golden head of the angel4 7#b7 ,the ,blue ,closet4 ,this was painted in #aheg1 and formed one of a notable series of small water-colours which once belonged to ,william ,morris4 ,although neither ,dantesque nor ,arthurian in subject1 it is strongly akin to the latter class in its feeling for mediaeval chivalry and dress1 and has been chosen because both in colouring and composition it is one of the most perfect examples of ,rossetti's early work4 ,it represents two queens1 the one on the left in red with green sleeves1 and the one on the right in crimson and gray1 playing upon opposite sides of an inlaid clavichord or dulcimer4 ,two other ladies stand behind them singing4 ,blue tiles on the wall and on the floor suggest the title1 which in its turn gave rise to one of ,william ,morris's poems4 ,the next illustration given1 as typical of ,rossetti's intermediate period is-- 7#c7 ,beata ,beatrix1 which was bequeathed to the ,national ,collection by ,lady ,mount ,temple1 to whom it formerly belonged4 ,this is so well known from reproductions that it is unnecessary to describe it in detail1 further than to say that it represents symbolically the death of ,beatrice as set forth in the ,vita ,nuova4 ,beatrice is not dead1 but is seated on a balcony in a trance1 whilst standing a little way in the background watching her are ,dante and the figure of ,love4 ,a crimson bird1 the messenger of ,death1 is letting fall a poppy into her lap4 ,beatrice is robed in pure green1 such as ,rossetti loved to paint1 with faint purple sleeves4 ,a dial marks the fateful hour which was to bear her1 on that #ith of ,june1 #abij1 to be glorious under the banner of the blessed ,queen ,mary4 ,on the frame1 designed by ,rossetti himself1 are the first words of the lamentation from ,jeremiah1 ,quomodo sedet sola civitas3 ,how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people4 ,there is a replica of this picture in the ,corporation ,art ,gallery of ,birmingham1 but it was an unfinished one which was worked on after ,rossetti's death by ,madox ,brown4 ,our next illustration is from a pen-and-ink drawing1 and is typical of a branch of work in which ,rossetti excelled almost as notably as ,burne-,jones4 ,it represents3 7#d7 ,mary ,magdalene at the house of ,simon the ,pharisee4 ,the date of this famous drawing is #ahec1 but it was not actually finished until some years later4 ,the scene represents a procession of revellers1 amongst whom is the ,magdalene with her lover4 ,in passing the door of ,simon she sees within it the face of ,christ1 and striving to leave her companions she tears off the garland from her head and presses up the steps4 ,christ is watching her1 and waits for her to reach him1 whilst the others try to bar her passage4 ,a young doe is cropping the bush which grows against the wall of the house4 7#e7 ,the ,beloved1 painted in #ahff1 is probably the most perfect of all ,rossetti's pictures4 ,the subject is the ,bride of the ,psalms advancing to her lover4 ,she shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework2 the virgins that be her fellows shall bear her company4 ,in the centre of the group is the bride1 arrayed in such gorgeous stuffs as only ,rossetti could imagine1 of an indescribable green with flowing sleeves gorgeously embroidered in gold and red4 ,on her head is an ornament of scarlet oriental featherwork which flashes like a jewel4 ,four dark-haired maidens accompany her1 whose heads form a frame to her own beauty1 and in front a little negro boy1 with jewelled collar and headband1 bears a golden vase of roses4 ,the figures1 though life-size1 are only painted half-length4 ,the faces are not of the type usually associated with ,rossetti1 and form a sufficient answer in themselves to those who think that he never painted from more than one model4 ,the bride's1 in particular1 is a face of extraordinary beauty4 ,the ,beloved is one of a fine trio of pictures commissioned by the late ,mr4 ,george ,rae of ,birkenhead1 the other two being ,monna ,vanna and ,sibylla ,palmifera4 ,as stated already1 they represent ,rossetti's prime1 when his work was technically at its best1 and before his health had broken down and driven him into forced or morbid mannerisms4 7#f7 ,mariana4 ,this picture belongs to #ahgj1 and was at one time in the great ,graham collection4 ,the title is taken from ,measure for ,measure1 and has no connection with ,tennyson's poem4 ,it was begun originally in #ahfh1 as a portrait of ,mrs4 ,morris1 and in most essentials resembles the beautiful picture lent by her to the ,tate ,gallery4 ,rossetti discarded the canvas at the time in favour of the latter version1 but took it up again afterwards1 painted in the figure of the boy singing1 and gave it the ,shakespeare name with the legend from the page's song1 ,take1 ,o take those lips away4 ,in the ,tate picture ,mrs4 ,morris is seated at a table before a jar of roses2 here the lady is holding an embroidery frame1 but in each case she wears a gown of marvellous blue with contrasting chains and jewels4 ,illustration3 ,,dante',s ,,dream4 7#g7 ,dante's ,dream4 ,this1 from its size and on other grounds is regarded by many critics as the most important of ,rossetti's pictures4 ,it is certainly the most popular1 and if frequent reproduction be any gauge1 stands high amongst all modern pictures in this respect4 ,its painting occupied the greater part of #ahgj and #ahga1 and was a great physical strain1 so much so that in the year following ,rossetti suffered from a severe break-down which permanently affected his health4 ,the subject1 and practically the composition also1 are the same as in a small water-colour of #ahef1 and represents the vision related by ,dante in the ,vita ,nuova as having come to him of ,beatrice lying in death and angels bearing upward her soul in the form of an exceedingly white cloud4 ,love1 in a flame-coloured robe1 is leading him up to the bier1 and scarlet birds1 typifying love1 are flying in and out of the house4 ,two handsome maidens1 in flowing gowns of green1 are holding up the ends of the pall which covered the bier1 while ,love bends down and kisses the pale face of the dead lady4 ,beyond the arched doorway is seen a glimpse of ,florence with the ,arno4 ,the picture when finished proved too large for its owner's room1 and changed hands more than once before it finally found a resting-place in the ,walker ,art ,gallery at ,liverpool4 ,rossetti painted a second rather smaller picture1 to replace it1 and added two predellas to the subject4 7#h7 ,astarte ,syriaca is a vision of the ,syrian ,venus1 massive and splendid in form1 with vague eyes typical of her mysteries4 ,she stands1 facing the spectator1 in a robe of gorgeous green1 which half reveals the outlines of her body1 clasping with both hands her jewelled girdle4 ,on either side behind her are attendant spirits bearing torches4 ,the picture is a good example of ,rossetti's latest work4 ,it was commissioned by the late ,mr4 ,fry and painted in #ahgg4 ,it now adorns the ,corporation ,art ,gallery of ,manchester4 ,,chronological ,,list ,,of ,,chief ,,pictures ,,owner #ahdg4 ,portrait of the ,artist 7pencil74 ,national ,portrait ,gallery4 #ahdi4 ,the ,girlhood of ,mary ,virgin 7oil74 ,lady ,jekyll4 ,the ,laboratory 7water-colour74 ,c4 ,f4 ,murray4 #ahej4 ,ecce ,ancilla 7oil74 ,tate ,gallery4 #ahea4 ,borgia 7water-colour74 #aheb4 ,giotto painting ,dante 7water-colour74 ,sir ,john ,aird4 #ahed4 ,found 7unfinished oil74 ,s4 ,bancroft1 ,jun4 ,arthur's ,tomb 7water-colour74 ,s4 ,pepys ,cockerell4 #ahee4 ,paolo and ,francesca 7water-colour diptych74 ,rae ,collection4 ,rachel and ,leah 7water-colour74 ,beresford ,heaton4 #ahef4 ,dante's ,dream 7water-colour74 ,beresford ,heaton4 ,fra ,pace 7water-colour74 ,lady ,jekyll4 #aheg4 ,designs for ,moxon's ,tennyson 7wood-cuts74 ,birmingham ,art ,gallery4 ,chapel before the ,lists 7water-colour74 ,rae ,collection4 ,the ,tune of ,seven ,towers 7water-colour74 ,rae ,collection4 ,the ,blue ,closet 7water-colour74 ,rae ,collection4 ,wedding of ,st4 ,george 7water-colour74 ,rae ,collection4 ,christmas ,carol 7water-colour74 ,c4 ,f4 ,murray4 #aheh4 ,mary ,magdalene at the ,door of ,simon 7pen-and-ink74 ,c4 ,ricketts4 ,before the ,battle 7water-colour7 ,prof4 ,norton4 #ahei4 ,bocca ,baciata 7oil74 ,c4 ,f4 ,murray4 ,salutation of ,beatrice 7oil74 ,f4 ,j4 ,tennant4 #ahfj4 ,bonifazio's ,mistress 7water-colour74 ,c4 ,f4 ,murray4 ,lucrezia ,borgia 7water-colour74 ,rae ,collection4 ,seed of ,david 7oil triptych74 ,llandaff ,cathedral4 #ahfa4 ,dr4 ,johnson at the ,mitre 7water-colour74 ,c4 ,f4 ,murray4 #ahfa4 ,paolo and ,francesca 7water-colour74 ,w4 ,r4 ,moss4 ,regina ,cordium 7oil74 ,arthur ,severn4 ,parable of the ,vineyard 7,morris windows74 ,st4 ,martin's1 ,scarborough4 ,crucifixion 7,morris window74 ,st4 ,martin's1 ,scarborough4 #ahfb4 ,st4 ,george and the ,dragon 7cartoons for ,morris windows74 ,birmingham ,art ,gallery4 ,tristram and ,yseult 7cartoons for ,morris windows74 #ahfc4 ,beata ,beatrix 7oil74 ,tate ,gallery4 ,belcolore 7oil74 ,c4 ,f4 ,murray4 ,fazio's ,mistress 7oil74 ,rae ,collection4 #ahfd4 ,lady ,lilith 7oil74 ,s4 ,bancroft1 ,jun4 ,venus ,verticordia 7oil74 ,venus ,verticordia 7water-colour74 ,rae ,collection4 ,sir ,galahad1 ,sir ,bors1 and ,sir ,percival 7water-colour74 ,beresford ,heaton4 ,madness of ,ophelia 7water-colour74 ,mrs4 ,c4 ,e4 ,lees4 ,how they met ,themselves 7water-colour74 ,s4 ,pepys ,cockerell4 ,joan of ,arc 7water-colour74 ,beresford ,heaton4 #ahfe4 ,the ,blue ,bower 7oil74 ,perrins ,collection4 ,the ,merciless ,lady 7water-colour74 ,c4 ,f4 ,murray4 #ahff4 ,the ,beloved 7oil74 ,rae ,collection4 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