Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, properly Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti 1828-82
English poet, painter and translator

Born in London, he was the son of Gabriele Rossetti and brother of Christina and William Rossetti. He was educated at King's College School and attended Cary's Art Academy, having shown an early inclination towards poetry and art. With Holman Hunt and John Millais he formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Throughout the 1840s he developed his poetry and painting, completing on canvas The Girlhood of Mary Virgin (1849) and Ecce Ancilla Domini (1850), both in the Tate Gallery, London. Like his sister Christina, several of his poems, eg 'The Blessed Damozel' and 'My Sister's Sleep', appeared in The Germ (1850). He met Elizabeth Siddal (or Siddall) in 1849-50 and tutored her in her painting and writing, encouraging her to model for him. He married her in 1860. He met John Ruskin in 1854 and two years later William Morris, whom he manifestly influenced. In 1861 he published The Early Italian Poets, which consisted of translations from 60 poets, such as Dante and Guido Cavalcanti. His wife's death in 1862 from an overdose of laudanum affected him deeply and his work became increasingly morbid. From 1869 he formed a liaison with Jane, the wife of William Morris, and she became his model during his sojourn at Kelmscott Manor (1871-74) and later, notably for The Daydream (1880, Victoria and Albert Museum, London). In 1872 he became depressed and attempted suicide. Nevertheless, Ballads and Sonnets with the sonnet sequence 'The House of Life' and 'The King's Tragedy' appeared in 1881. At odds with Victorian morality, his work is lush, erotic and medieval, romantic in spirit, and of abiding interest.

Bibliography: C Davies, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1925)