Chapter I: Preface

The following pages do not afford any material additions to what is already known of Dante Rossetti, or of the history and purpose of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The authoritative biography of Rossetti has yet to be written; and while availing myself fully of such new details as may cast fresh side-lights upon the dominant personalities of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, my aim has rather been to present the main features of that movement in their relation to the larger intellectual tendencies of the age, and to the moral principles which have determined the growth of taste and feeling in the nineteenth century. To this end I have avoided as far as possible the proper domain of the art critic, and endeavoured to deal with the Pre-Raphaelite movement more as an ethical than an æsthetic revolution.

“It was always known to be Rossetti’s wish,” says Mr. Hall Caine in his interesting and graphic “Recollections of Rossetti,” “that if at any moment after his death it should appear that the story of his life required to be written, the one friend who during many of his later years knew him most intimately, and to whom he unlocked the most sacred secrets of his heart, Mr. Theodore Watts, should write it; unless indeed it were undertaken by his brother William. But though I know that whenever Mr. Watts sets pen to paper in pursuance of such a purpose and in fulfilment of such charge, he will afford us a recognizable portrait of the man, vivified by picturesque illustration, the like of which few other writers could compass, I also know from what Rossetti often told me of his friend’s immersion in all kinds and varieties of life, that years (perhaps many years) may elapse before such a biography is given to the world.”

In the meantime, the present writer is indebted to Mr. J.A. Vinter, Rossetti’s fellow-student at the Royal Academy Schools, for some interesting reminiscences of class-room and studio life, and to the Rev. Walter Tuckwell, rector of Stockton, Rugby, for personal recollections of the Pre-Raphaelites at Oxford. Mr. Gerald Massey has also assisted with suggestions and notes.

Through the courtesy of present owners of Rossetti’s pictures, several important drawings and studies are here engraved for the first time. Lord Battersea and Overstrand has kindly permitted a photograph to be made from the sketch in his possession, “Mary Magdalene at the Door of Simon the Pharisee.” A similar privilege has been granted by the Corporation of Birmingham in regard to their monochrome, “The Boat of Love,” and the beautiful unfinished study of “Our Lady of Pity.” I have also to acknowledge the kindness of Mr. Moncure D. Conway, in giving access to the fine study of the “Head of Christ” in his collection, and, by no means least, of Mr. Theodore Watts, in the matter of his two superb crayons, “The Day-dream” and “Pandora.” The “Beata Beatrix” and “Ecce Ancilla Domini” are from the now familiar paintings in the National Gallery.

ESTHER WOOD.

HAMPSTEAD,

_February, 1894_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE PREPARATION FOR REFORM IN ART.

PAGE

Constable prophecies the Decay of English Art—The New
Impulse from Italy—The English Renaissance of 1850—
Rossetti and the Specialistic Temperament—Classicism of
the Eighteenth Century—Influence of the French Revolution—
Revival of Romance—Contrast between Mediæval and Modern
Romance—Pessimism in Pre-Raphaelite Painting—Nature as a
Background—Moral Significance of the Change 1

CHAPTER II.

THE RENAISSANCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Childhood of Rossetti—Religious and Literary Influences—Art
Training—Conflict between Imagination and Technique—
Friendship with Millais and Holman Hunt—The Westminster
Hall Competitions—Ford Madox Brown—Influence of Ruskin’s
“Modern Painters”—The Early Italian Masters—The
Renaissance in Mediæval Europe—Relation of Paganism to
Christianity—Revival of Hellenism, and blending of Classic
with Romantic Art—Growth of Technique and Return to
Convention—The Rule of the Raphaelesque 18

CHAPTER III.

THE PRE-RAPHAELITE BROTHERHOOD.

The Revolt from the Raphaelesque—Influence of Keats and the
Romantic Poets—The Pre-Raphaelite Brothers and their Early
work—Travels of Rossetti with Hunt—Publication of “The
Germ”—Hunt and Millais in the Royal Academy—Ruskin’s
letters to the “Times”—Pre-Raphaelitism at Liverpool—The
Pre-Raphaelites as Colourists 56

CHAPTER IV.

PERIOD OF TRANSITION.

Influence of Browning and Tennyson—Comparison of Rossetti
and Browning—Influence of Dante—Introduction to Miss
Siddal—Rossetti’s Water-Colours—Madox Brown and Romantic
Realism—The Dispersal of the Brotherhood—Departure of
Woolner—Ideals of Portraiture—Rossetti and Public
Exhibitions—Death of Deverell—Rossetti’s Friendship with
Ruskin—Apostasy of Millais—The Rank and File of the
Movement—Relation to Foreign Schools 92

CHAPTER V.

LATER DEVELOPMENTS OF THE MOVEMENT.

The Pre-Raphaelites as Book-Illustrators—Moxon’s “Tennyson”—
The “Oxford and Cambridge Magazine”—The Oxford Frescoes—
Oxford Patrons of Millais and Hunt—Departure of Hunt for
Palestine—The Pictures of Madox Brown—Further Developments
of Rossetti’s Painting—Marriage and Bereavement—“Beata
Beatrix”—Replicas—Life at Chelsea—Later Models—Designs for
Stained Glass—Visit to Penkill—“Dante’s Dream”—Publication
and Reception of the “Poems”—Paintings of Rossetti’s Last
Decade—Death at Birchington 136

CHAPTER VI.

TREATMENT OF RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS.

The Re-birth of Religious Art—“God, Immortality, Duty”—The
Pre-Raphaelites and the Reconstruction of Christianity—The
Halo in Painting—Ideals of Womanhood—“The Girlhood of Mary
Virgin” and “Ecce Ancilla Domini”—The Problem of
Suffering—“Christ in the House of His Parents,” ”The
Passover in the Holy Family,” “The Shadow of Death,” “The
Scapegoat”—Hunt’s Symbolism—“The Light of the World”—
Rossetti’s Symbolism—“Mary Magdalene at the Door,” and
“Mary in the House of John”—The Idea of Victory through
Suffering—Bethlehem Gate”— “The Triumph of the Innocents”—
The Spirit of Inquiry—“Christ in the Temple”—The
Atonement—“The Infant Christ Adored”—Comparison with Madox
Brown and Burne-Jones—“The Entombment”—“The Tree of Life” 196