Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 – 1882) British Painter and Poet

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a British painter and poet. He was born in London. 

Education

He studied drawing with Cotman and, in 1848, with Holman Hunt. 

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

1848 Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Rossetti founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In 1850, he painted frescoes for the Oxford Union debating hall with William Morris. Morris, G.F. Watts, Edward Burne-Jones, and John Ruskin began supporting the Pre-Raphaelites in 1851 and later became members. 

In the 1860s, Rossetti, like his friend James Abbot McNeill Whistler, began to collect Chinese porcelain and Japanese woodcuts. Profoundly affected by the death of his wife, Elizabeth Siddal, in 1862, Rossetti became increasingly eccentric and ceased painting in 1877. He published Poems (1870) and his last work, Ballads and Sonnets (1881). 

Hunt and Morris encouraged him to become involved in the applied arts in the early years. Rossetti designed furniture and stained glass and, primarily through his graphic design, was influential on the continent and in the USA. 

Rossetti was involved in forming Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, the Arts and Crafts decorating firm founded by William Morris and others, and contributed designs. 

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

More on British Furniture

Related Articles

• Pre-Raphaelites Brotherhood – British Artists Group
• René Gabriel (1890 – 1950) French Interior Designer
• Gabriel Englinger – French artist, furniture designer
• Hunter Eileen (1909 – 1979) British Textile Designer and Writer
• Exploring the Enigmatic Beauty of the Dantesca Chair