CLOSE OF THE RECORD. 1874-1882
One of the first incidents to be recorded after Rossetti's return to
London in 1874 was the dissolution of the partnership of Morris,
Marshall, Faulkner and Co., and the re-construction of the firm under
the sole management of William Morris. The dissolution was not
effected without some unpleasantness, resulting in the estrangement
of Morris and Brown. Morris and Rossetti never actually quarrelled;
but from 1874 onwards the two men seldom saw each other, Rossetti's
recluse habits of life being possibly responsible to some extent for
the severance.
The latter part of 1875 and the first half of 1876 Rossetti spent at
Bognor, and after that he visited the Cowper-Temples (afterwards Lord
and Lady Mount Temple) at Broadlands in Hampshire, being then engaged
upon his picture of _The Blessed Damozel_.
In 1877 he had a very severe physical illness, due to an uraemic
affection which had been set up in 1872, and which eventually was the
active cause of his death. He was removed to a little cottage near
Herne Bay, and at one time gave up all hope of resuming his
profession. "At last," says Mr. William Rossetti, "the power and the
determination returned simultaneously; he drew an admirable
crayon-group of our mother and sister, two others equally good of the
latter, and yet another of our mother. Weather had been favourable,
spirits and energy revived, and he came back to town nerved once more
for the battle of life and of art." The group of Mrs. and Miss
Rossetti is now in the National Portrait Gallery.
After 1877 Rossetti seldom if ever went beyond the doors of No. 16,
Cheyne Walk, and as he suffered from fits of melancholy, and disliked
being alone, a few faithful friends formed the practice of coming to
visit him by turns. Mr. Theodore Watts was a more constant
attendant, and had a bed at his disposal. A good number of
acquaintances also frequented the house, some of them much more
intimate than others and dating back in their relations to about
1866. Among these may be mentioned the artists J. M. Whistler and
Alphonse Legros, Frederick Shields, F. A. Sandys and Fairfax Murray.
In 1878, or thereabouts, Rossetti's devotion to poetry received a
fresh impulse, and he set himself assiduously to the production of
sonnets. It was not until 1880, however, that he began really to
compile materials for a new volume. In that year he wrote "The White
Ship," and in the year following "The King's Tragedy." Finally, by
March of 1881 the copy for "Ballads and Sonnets" was complete, and
was accepted by Messrs. Ellis and White on the same terms as the
first book. At the same time the latter, which was by now out of
print, underwent some material alterations and was re-published in a
new form.
The pictures for 1875 include _La Bella Mano_, which represents a
lady washing her "beautiful hands" in a scalloped basin of brass;
also some of the studies for the _Blessed Damozel_, a finished
pen-and-ink study for a great picture of 1877, the _Astarte Syriaca_,
and a large pencil drawing called _The Question_ or _The Sphinx_.
[Illustration: ASTARTE SYRIACA. (By permission of the Art Gallery
Committee of the Manchester Corporation.)]
The following year was mainly devoted to the _Blessed Damozel_, an
attempt to realize on canvas Rossetti's early poem which first
appeared in "The Germ." The picture is a very fine one. Rossetti
filled in the background behind the stooping figure of the damozel
with a heavenly landscape, in which were countless pairs of embracing
lovers. In 1877 he added a predella representing the earthly lover
gazing up through space, and in 1879 he painted a replica, omitting
the background of lovers and substituting two angel heads rather
suggestive of those which occur in _La Ghirlandata_.
The year 1877 contains but three items, two of which are, however,
the important oil-pictures _Astarte Syriaca_ and _The Sea-Spell_.
The third was a _Magdalen_ bearing the vase of spikenard.
_Astarte Syriaca_ is a massive figure, with face and hair strongly
reminiscent of Mrs. Morris. It was bought at its first owner's death
for the Corporation Art Gallery of Manchester.
The two finished items of 1878--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 Brunelleschi_. _Fiammetta_ is a fine
and striking conception, representing on a life-size scale the lady
beloved by Boccaccio, to whom he addressed the sonnet which begins:
"Round her red garland and her golden hair, I saw a fire about
Fiammetta's head." The sitter for _Fiammetta_ was Mrs. W. J.
Stillman.
_La Donna della Finestra_ was painted in 1879. This "Lady of the
Window," also known as "The Lady of Pity," is she who in Dante's
"Vita Nuova" is described as looking down upon the poet one day when
he was overcome with grief. The head is taken from Mrs. Morris, much
modified by the conventions which Rossetti at this time introduced
into all his faces. 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 sits.
During 1880 and 1881 Rossetti was occupied with three large pictures,
_The Day Dream_, _The Salutation of Beatrice_, and _La Pia_; with
_Found_, which had been re-commissioned by Mr. William Graham; and
with several replicas, of which the most important was the smaller
_Dante's Dream_.
_The Day Dream_ is a portrait of Mrs. Morris seated in the lower
branches of a sycamore tree. _La Pia_, the last original picture
painted by Rossetti, depicts the story of Pia de' Tolomei, told in
the fifth canto of the "Purgatorio." In Rossetti's canvas she is
seen, sitting forward in a window, gazing out over the poisonous
Maremma from the fortress where her husband had placed her to die.
_Found_, which was one of the first pictures Rossetti attempted, was
never completed. After Rossetti's death, as already mentioned, Sir
Edward Burne-Jones added a little work to it, and in this condition
it was taken over by the purchaser. It is now in America.
With this we come to an end of Rossetti's work as a painter. It
remains briefly to close the record of his life.
In September, 1881, Rossetti, accompanied by Mr. Hall Caine,
undertook an expedition to the lake district of Cumberland; but after
a month his health, which at first had appeared to benefit, became
alarmingly bad, and he returned hurriedly to London. After a partial
recovery from this illness his work was once more interrupted in
December by an attack of nervous paralysis, traceable to the effects
of the drug he had been taking. In February, 1882, he was taken to
Birchington-on-Sea, where a cottage had been placed at his disposal,
and here he died on the 10th of April. He was buried, quietly and
simply, in the little churchyard at Birchington, where a stone
monument has been erected by his family in the form of a Celtic cross
designed by Madox Brown. A memorial window embodying his own early
design of _The Passover_, adapted by Mr. Shields, was also set up in
the adjoining church.
So passed away, in the fifty-fourth year of his life, one of the most
original artists of our time; I will not say one of the greatest
painters, for that would invite controversy as to points in which he
was, and knew himself to be, deficient. But as an artist, as one who
saw, and could interpret and depict beautiful things in a beautiful
way, there can be no two questions about Rossetti's greatness. 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
superior.
To complain, as some have done, of the mediaeval quality of his
subjects is foolish. As well complain that fairy tales are old.
Rossetti was mediaeval in his thoughts and tastes. Without any
affectation or straining for effect he lived his intellectual life in
a mystical, richly-coloured world of romantic knights and ladies.
These, and not the hedgerows or buttercups of to-day, were what came
to the surface in his creative moods. We have witnessed in these
latter years a great revival of romance, springing up in various ways
all over the continent of Europe. Of this revival in England, on the
side of pictorial art, Rossetti was the fountain head. The gentle
melancholy that pervades his work was derived from his namesake
Dante, to whom he was doubly allied by ties of birth and sentiment.
"He was moreover driven by something like the same unrelaxing stress
and fervour of temperament, so that even in middle age it seemed
scarcely less true to say of Rossetti than of Dante himself:
'Like flame within the naked hand,
His body bore his burning heart.'"
The direction of his influence, and of the Pre-Raphaelite movement
generally, has been worked out in a scholarly manner by Mr. Percy
Bate, in a book called "The English Pre-Raphaelite Painters," where
an attempt is made for the first time to trace the artistic lineage
of such diverse executants as Mr. Spencer Stanhope, Mr. Walter Crane,
Mr. Strudwick, Mrs. de Morgan, Mr. Byam Shaw, and others. On many of
these the influence of Burne-Jones is more evident than that of
Rossetti; but Burne-Jones himself owed much to Rossetti at the
critical period of his career.
The subject of Rossetti's art is one that presents difficulty, on
account of the semi-privacy which surrounded it during the painter's
lifetime. The subject of Rossetti himself is more difficult still.
It has become a sort of fashion to decry the man, and to forget the
genius, among some who knew him only in his latest years--perhaps by
hearsay mainly. Stories of his want of consideration for others, his
egotism, his shabby treatment of patrons, his ungoverned temper, are
reeled off with a sort of zest, as though they summed up the man.
But in Rossetti good and bad were, as usual, inextricably mixed up,
with a strong preponderance towards the former. There were periods
when his brilliant, impulsive, magnetic personality swamped the most
audacious faults. For a man to stand out above his fellows is often
enough a signal for petty jealousy and stone-throwing. But in such
cases, one may remark, it is not always a David who prepares the
sling, nor is it always the giant who is on the side of the
Philistines.
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
Rossetti's record as a painter divides itself naturally into three
periods, beginning with a fairly numerous series of small romantic
water-colours, which to many people represent the most charming, if
not the most mature, feature of his work. The subjects for these
were selected largely from Browning, from the "Vita Nuova" of Dante,
and from the Arthurian legends, themes which appealed irresistibly to
his imaginative mind, 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-Jones.
Practically the only oil pictures painted by Rossetti during this
period were the _Girlhood of Mary Virgin_, and the little _Ecce
Ancilla Domini_, now in the Tate Gallery at Millbank. This period
came to an end in 1862, with the death of Rossetti's wife, and the
beautiful _Beata Beatrix_ (also in the Tate Gallery) which was really
a memorial of her pure features, was followed by a number of
magnificent canvases painted from models of a rich and sumptuous
type, amongst which may be specially mentioned _The Beloved_, _Monna
Vanna_, and _Sibylla Palmifera_, _Lady Lilith_, the _Venus
Verticordia_, _The Loving Cup_, _Veronica Veronese_, _The Bower
Meadow_, _La Ghirlandata_, _Sea Spell_, and _La Bella Mano_. Lastly
comes a large group of single figure subjects painted from, or based
on, the dark and almost exotic features of Mrs. William Morris. Of
these may be named in particular _Mariana_, _Pandora_, _Proserpine_,
_Astarte Syriaca_, _La Donna della Finestra_, _The Day Dream_, and
Rossetti's last finished picture _La Pia_.
Owing to an invincible dislike for exhibitions, and the secrecy which
in consequence hung over Rossetti's work, the two earlier groups were
hardly seen by the public at all until after his death, and his fame,
when it spread, was based chiefly upon the large canvases of the
latest group, which may account for the very general belief that
Rossetti painted only from one type of sitter, with somewhat
exaggerated characteristics, a further error which may be explained
by the mannerisms which undoubtedly beset him towards the close of
his life, when his health had failed permanently and his eyesight was
no longer at its best.
Of the earliest pictures, painted for the most part when Rossetti was
little more than a boy, the following are selected for illustration:
(1) _Ecce Ancilla Domini_, which was exhibited in 1850 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 Brotherhood.
There is nothing which could possibly shock us now in the simple,
girl-like figure of Rossetti's Virgin, crouching in half-awakened awe
upon her pallet couch before the grave-faced angel who is holding out
to her a lily. 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 trappings. The painting, too, is a masterpiece for so
young and inexperienced an artist, full of skill in the handling of
white draperies and restrained in the use of colour. The only bright
notes in the picture are the crimson cloth worked with a lily, upon a
stand at the foot of the bed, and the blue curtain at its head.
Everything else is subdued and faint with the clear light of an
English, not an Eastern, dawn, seen through the open window which
frames the golden head of the angel.
(2) _The Blue Closet_. This was painted in 1857, and formed one of a
notable series of small water-colours which once belonged to William
Morris. Although neither Dantesque nor Arthurian in subject, it is
strongly akin to the latter class in its feeling for mediaeval
chivalry and dress, and has been chosen because both in colouring and
composition it is one of the most perfect examples of Rossetti's
early work. It represents two queens, the one on the left in red
with green sleeves, and the one on the right in crimson and gray,
playing upon opposite sides of an inlaid clavichord or dulcimer. Two
other ladies stand behind them singing. Blue tiles on the wall and
on the floor suggest the title, which in its turn gave rise to one of
William Morris's poems.
The next illustration given, as typical of Rossetti's intermediate
period is--
(3) _Beata Beatrix_, which was bequeathed to the National Collection
by Lady Mount Temple, to whom it formerly belonged. This is so well
known from reproductions that it is unnecessary to describe it in
detail, further than to say that it represents symbolically the death
of Beatrice as set forth in the "Vita Nuova." Beatrice is not dead,
but is seated on a balcony in a trance, whilst standing a little way
in the background watching her are Dante and the figure of Love. A
crimson bird, the messenger of Death, is letting fall a poppy into
her lap. Beatrice is robed in pure green, such as Rossetti loved to
paint, with faint purple sleeves. A dial marks the fateful hour
which was to bear her, on that 9th of June, 1290, "to be glorious
under the banner of the blessed Queen Mary." On the frame, designed
by Rossetti himself, are the first words of the lamentation from
Jeremiah, _Quomodo sedet sola civitas_: "How doth the city sit
solitary that was full of people." There is a replica of this
picture in the Corporation Art Gallery of Birmingham, but it was an
unfinished one which was worked on after Rossetti's death by Madox
Brown.
Our next illustration is from a pen-and-ink drawing, and is typical
of a branch of work in which Rossetti excelled almost as notably as
Burne-Jones. It represents:
(4) _Mary Magdalene at the house of Simon the Pharisee_. The date of
this famous drawing is 1853, but it was not actually finished until
some years later. The scene represents a procession of revellers,
amongst whom is the Magdalene with her lover. In passing the door of
Simon she sees within it the face of Christ, and striving to leave
her companions she tears off the garland from her head and presses up
the steps. Christ is watching her, and waits for her to reach him,
whilst the others try to bar her passage. A young doe is cropping
the bush which grows against the wall of the house.
(5) _The Beloved_, painted in 1866, is probably the most perfect of
all Rossetti's pictures. The subject is the Bride of the Psalms
advancing to her lover. "She shall be brought unto the king in
raiment of needlework; the virgins that be her fellows shall bear her
company." In the centre of the group is the bride, arrayed in such
gorgeous stuffs as only Rossetti could imagine, of an indescribable
green with flowing sleeves gorgeously embroidered in gold and red.
On her head is an ornament of scarlet oriental featherwork which
flashes like a jewel. Four dark-haired maidens accompany her, whose
heads form a frame to her own beauty, and in front a little negro
boy, with jewelled collar and headband, bears a golden vase of roses.
The figures, though life-size, are only painted half-length. The
faces are not of the type usually associated with Rossetti, and form
a sufficient answer in themselves to those who think that he never
painted from more than one model. The bride's, in particular, is a
face of extraordinary beauty. _The Beloved_ is one of a fine trio of
pictures commissioned by the late Mr. George Rae of Birkenhead, the
other two being _Monna Vanna_ and _Sibylla Palmifera_. As stated
already, they represent Rossetti's prime, when his work was
technically at its best, and before his health had broken down and
driven him into forced or morbid mannerisms.
(6) _Mariana_. This picture belongs to 1870, and was at one time in
the great Graham collection. The title is taken from "Measure for
Measure," and has no connection with Tennyson's poem. It was begun
originally in 1868, as a portrait of Mrs. Morris, and in most
essentials resembles the beautiful picture lent by her to the Tate
Gallery. Rossetti discarded the canvas at the time in favour of the
latter version, but took it up again afterwards, painted in the
figure of the boy singing, and gave it the Shakespeare name with the
legend from the page's song, "Take, O take those lips away." In the
Tate picture Mrs. Morris is seated at a table before a jar of roses;
here the lady is holding an embroidery frame, but in each case she
wears a gown of marvellous blue with contrasting chains and jewels.
[Illustration: DANTE'S DREAM.]
(7) _Dante's Dream_. This, from its size and on other grounds is
regarded by many critics as the most important of Rossetti's
pictures. It is certainly the most popular, and if frequent
reproduction be any gauge, stands high amongst all modern pictures in
this respect. Its painting occupied the greater part of 1870 and
1871, and was a great physical strain, so much so that in the year
following Rossetti suffered from a severe break-down which
permanently affected his health. The subject, and practically the
composition also, are the same as in a small water-colour of 1856,
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 cloud." Love,
in a flame-coloured robe, is leading him up to the bier, and scarlet
birds, typifying love, are flying in and out of the house. Two
handsome maidens, in flowing gowns of green, are holding up the ends
of the pall which covered the bier, while Love bends down and kisses
the pale face of the dead lady. Beyond the arched doorway is seen a
glimpse of Florence with the Arno. The picture when finished proved
too large for its owner's room, and changed hands more than once
before it finally found a resting-place in the Walker Art Gallery at
Liverpool. Rossetti painted a second rather smaller picture, to
replace it, and added two predellas to the subject.
(8) _Astarte Syriaca_ is a vision of the Syrian Venus, massive and
splendid in form, with vague eyes typical of her mysteries. She
stands, facing the spectator, in a robe of gorgeous green, which half
reveals the outlines of her body, clasping with both hands her
jewelled girdle. On either side behind her are attendant spirits
bearing torches. The picture is a good example of Rossetti's latest
work. It was commissioned by the late Mr. Fry and painted in 1877.
It now adorns the Corporation Art Gallery of Manchester.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CHIEF PICTURES
OWNER
1847. Portrait of the Artist (pencil). _National Portrait Gallery._
1849. The Girlhood of Mary Virgin (oil). _Lady Jekyll._
The Laboratory (water-colour). _C. F. Murray._
1850. Ecce Ancilla (oil). _Tate Gallery._
1851. Borgia (water-colour).
1852. Giotto painting Dante (water-colour). _Sir John Aird._
1854. Found (unfinished oil). _S. Bancroft, Jun._
Arthur's Tomb (water-colour). _S. Pepys Cockerell._
1855. Paolo and Francesca (water-colour diptych). _Rae Collection._
Rachel and Leah (water-colour). _Beresford Heaton._
1856. Dante's Dream (water-colour). _Beresford Heaton._
Fra Pace (water-colour). _Lady Jekyll._
1857. Designs for Moxon's Tennyson (wood-cuts). _Birmingham Art
Gallery._
Chapel before the Lists (water-colour). _Rae Collection._
The Tune of Seven Towers (water-colour). _Rae Collection._
The Blue Closet (water-colour). _Rae Collection._
Wedding of St. George (water-colour). _Rae Collection._
Christmas Carol (water-colour). _C. F. Murray._
1858. Mary Magdalene at the Door of Simon (pen-and-ink).
_C. Ricketts._
Before the Battle (water-colour) _Prof. Norton._
1859. Bocca Baciata (oil). _C. F. Murray._
Salutation of Beatrice (oil). _F. J. Tennant._
1860. Bonifazio's Mistress (water-colour). _C. F. Murray._
Lucrezia Borgia (water-colour). _Rae Collection._
Seed of David (oil triptych). _Llandaff Cathedral._
1861. Dr. Johnson at the Mitre (water-colour). _C. F. Murray._
1861. Paolo and Francesca (water-colour). _W. R. Moss._
Regina Cordium (oil). _Arthur Severn._
Parable of the Vineyard (Morris windows). _St. Martin's,
Scarborough._
Crucifixion (Morris window). St. Martin's, Scarborough.
1862. St. George and the Dragon (cartoons for Morris windows).
_Birmingham Art Gallery._
Tristram and Yseult (cartoons for Morris windows).
1863. Beata Beatrix (oil). _Tate Gallery._
Belcolore (oil). _C. F. Murray._
Fazio's Mistress (oil). _Rae Collection._
1864. Lady Lilith (oil). _S. Bancroft, Jun._
Venus Verticordia (oil).
Venus Verticordia (water-colour). _Rae Collection._
Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Percival
(water-colour). _Beresford Heaton._
Madness of Ophelia (water-colour). _Mrs. C. E. Lees._
How they met Themselves (water-colour). _S. Pepys Cockerell._
Joan of Arc (water-colour). _Beresford Heaton._
1865. The Blue Bower (oil). _Perrins Collection._
The Merciless Lady (water-colour). _C. F. Murray._
1866. The Beloved (oil). _Rae Collection._
Monna Vanna (oil). _Rae Collection._
1866-70. Sibylla Palmifera (oil). _Rae Collection._
1867. Christmas Carol (oil). _Rae Collection._
Joli Cœur (oil). _Miss Horniman._
The Loving Cup (oil). _T. Ismay._
1868. Portrait of Mrs. Morris (oil). _Lent to Tate Gallery._
1869. Rosa Triplex (crayon). _Tate Gallery._
1870. Mariana (oil). _F. W. Buxton._
1871. Pandora (oil). _Charles Butler._
1872. The Bower Meadow (oil). _Sir J. D. Milburn._
Veronica Veronese (oil). _W. Imrie._
1873. La Ghirlandata (oil). _J. Ross._
Proserpine (oil). _Charles Butler._
1874. The Roman Widow (oil). _F. Brocklebank._
Damsel of the Sanc Grael (oil). _Rae Collection._
The Boat of Love (grisaille). _Birmingham Art Gallery._
Marigolds (oil). _Lord Davey._
1875. La Bella Mano (oil). _Sir C. Quilter._
The Question (pencil). _Birmingham Art Gallery._
1876. The Blessed Damozel (oil). _Perrin's Collection._
1877. Astarte Syriaca (oil). _Manchester Art Gallery._
The Sea Spell (oil).
Portraits (Mrs. Rossetti and Christina Rossetti) (crayon)
_National Portrait Gallery._
1878. Fiammetta (oil). _Charles Butler._
1879. Donna della Finestra (oil). _W. R. Moss._
The Blessed Damozel (oil). _Hon Mrs. O'Brien._
1880. Dante's Dream (oil). _W. Imrie._
The Day-dream (oil). _Ionides Collection: South
Kensington Museum._
1881. Dante's Dream (oil). _Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool._
La Pia (oil). _Russell Rea._
CHISWICK PRESS: PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.,
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.