Painter and Poet

Born on May 12, 1828, in

London, England, of

English-Italian parents, the

English painter and poet

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a

cofounder of the Pre-

Raphaelite Brotherhood, a

band of painters that reacted

against unimaginative and

traditional historical

paintings.

Self portrait

His works show a

passionate imagination,

strongly contrasting

Victorian art which was

popular during the

second half of the

nineteenth century.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Algernon Swinburne

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, by George Frederic Watts

•

In 1860, he married his

long-time (since 1850)

model Elizabeth Eleanor

Siddal. This feminine

ideal of the Preraffaelites

was Rossetti's muse and

source of inspiration until

her suicide in 1862. He

idealised her image as

Dante's Beatrice in a

number of paintings,

such as "Beata Beatrix".

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

probably met Lizzie

Siddal in 1852 or 1853,

and began to use her as a

model to the exclusion of

all others. With her

classical beauty and

copper-red hair she was

one of the early Pre-

Raphaelite period's

stunningly beautiful

models, or "stunners" as

they were called.

Jane Burden Morris: An Enigmatic Muse

Jane Burden’s affair with Dante Gabriel Rossetti after his wife Lizzie Siddal died was famous. She began to pose for Rossetti which started a series of his masterpieces –he painted her repeatedly until his death. All of Rossetti’s paintings of Jane seem somber, enigmatic. She seems quiet and contemplative. A mystery.

Perlascura

Considered one of the most unconventional

painters of the 19th century, Rossetti painted in

his maturity “ powerful and mysterious

dreamlike images of women that convey, through

poetic suggestiveness and allusive detail, ideas of

sensuality, beauty, love, death and destiny”.

La Bella Mano

“In royal wise ring-girt

and bracelet-spann’d

A flower of Venus’ own

virginity,

Go shine among thy

sisterly sweet band;

In maiden-minded

converse delicately

Evermore white and soft;

until thou be,

O hand! heart-handsel’d

in a lover’s hand”.

La Bella Mano

Water Willow

A Sea Spell

“She hath the apple in her hand

for thee,

Yet almost in her heart would

hold it back;

She muses, with her eyes upon

the track

Of that which in thy spirit

they can see.

Haply, ‘Behold, he is at peace,’

saith she;

‘Alas! the apple for his lips, –

the dart

That follows its brief sweetness

to his heart,-

The wandering of his feet

perpetually!’ Venus Verticordia

My Lady Greensleeves

Lady Lilith

Lilith

“Of Adam's first wife, Lilith,

it is told

(The witch he loved before the

gift of Eve,)

That, ere the snake's, her sweet

tongue could deceive,

And her enchanted hair was

the first gold.

And still she sits, young while

the earth is old,

And, subtly of herself

contemplative,

Draws men to watch the bright

web she can weave,

Till heart and body and life

are in its hold.”

“

The First Madness of Ophelia

A Vision of Fiametta

“BEHOLD Fiammetta,

shown in Vision here.

Gloom-girt 'mid Spring-

flushed apple-growth she

stands;

And as she sways the

branches with her hands,

Along her arm the

sundered bloom falls sheer,

In separate petals shed,

each like a tear;”

-------

Proserpine

Sibylla Palmifera.

“SOUL'S BEAUTY

UNDER the arch of Life, where loveand death,Terror and mystery, guard her shrine, I sawBeauty enthroned; and though hergaze struck awe,I drew it in as simply as my breath.Hers are the eyes which, over andbeneath,The sky and sea bend on thee,--whichcan draw,By sea or sky or woman, to one law,The allotted bondman of her palm andwreath.This is that Lady Beauty, in whose praiseThy voice and hand shake still,--longknown to thee”

----------

Rossetti also

typically wrote

sonnets for his

pictures, such as

"Astarte Syraica".

Astarte Syriaca

“Mystery; lo! betwixt the sun and moon

Astarte of the Syrians: Venus Queen

Ere Aphrodite was. In silver sheen

Her twofold girdle clasps the infinite boon

Of bliss whereof the heaven and earth commune:

And from her neck’s inclining flower-stem lean

Love-freighted lips and absolute eyes that wean

The pulse of hearts to the spheres’ dominant tune”

Bocca Baciata

“Bocca baciata

non perde

ventura, anzi

rinnova come fa

la luna”.

(Bocaccio)

Helen of Troy

“Heavenborn Helen,

Sparta's queen,

(O Troy

Town!)

Had two breasts of

heavenly sheen,

The sun and moon of

the heart's desire:

All Love's lordship lay

between.

(O Troy's

down,

Tall Troy's

on fire!) “

Monna Vanna

La Ghirlandata.

La Donna della Finestra.

The Daydream

Fair Rosamund

Joan of Arc

St. Catherine

Sancta Lilias

In the 1850s, Rossetti evokes a

richly colorful, chivalric and

nostalgic representation of the

Middle Ages in a set of watercolor

paintings inspired by the Morte

d’Arthur and the works of Dante.

Dante 1851-56

Dantis Amor.

La Pia de' Tolomei

Beatrice, meeting Dante at a Wedding Feast, denies him her Salutation

Beata Beatrice

The Meeting of Dante and Beatrice in Paradise...

Dante's Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice

The First Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice: Dante Drawing the Angel.”

Dante's Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice

Romantic Medievalism 1853-60

Paolo and Francesca

A Study of Guinevère

Sir Galahad at the Ruined Chapel.

Last Meeting of Lancelot and GuinevereArthur’s Tomb -

How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Percival Were Fed with

the Sanc Grael; but Sir Percival's Sister Died by the Way

The Damsel of the Sanct Grael

The Damsel of the Sanct Grael or Holy Grail

Music :André Rieu (Greensleeves)Photos and texts: Web