Rossetti, Gabriele 1783-1854
Italian poet and writer

The father of Christina Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Michael Rossetti, he was the curator of ancient bronzes in the Museum of Bronzes at Naples. He was a member of the provisional government set up by Joachim Murat in Rome (1813). After the restoration of Ferdinand I to Naples, he joined the Carbonari secret society and greeted the constitution demanded by the patriots in 1820 in a famous ode. On the overthrow of the constitution he went to London (1824), where he became Professor of Italian at the new University of London. Besides writing poetry he was a student of Dante, whose Inferno he maintained was chiefly political and antipapal.

Bibliography: R D Williams, The Rossetti Family (1932)