Chapter III: Part 3

One day a young artist friend of Rossetti’s went with his mother into a millinery shop, where, glancing through an open door, he saw a number of young girls at work. Among them was one who had the beautiful reddish auburn hair which was the favorite color among the Pre-Raphaelites. The young man persuaded his mother to ask the girl if she would pose for him. The girl’s name was Elizabeth Siddall, and from posing for this friend she soon became acquainted with other artists, among them, Rossetti. She showed considerable artistic ability herself, and it is said that John Ruskin, wishing her to give up her trade and devote herself to art, promised to buy all the pictures she could paint, if she would study with Rossetti. This delighted Rossetti, who felt more than interested in this new pupil.

Judging from the paintings Rossetti made of her at this time she must have been a beautiful young girl. Besides her good looks she must have had a brilliant mind, for she learned rapidly, and soon became not only a good artist but a writer and judge of good literature. Then she discovered that her education had been much neglected, so with Rossetti’s and Ruskin’s help she went away to school to perfect herself. She did this because she believed she would then be able to help Rossetti more in his work. When she returned to London, they were married.

Their marriage was a very happy one, but hardly two years had passed when the young wife died.

During these two years Rossetti was inspired in his work in art and literature by his beautiful wife, and it was at her request that he copied the poems he had addressed to her into a little book which she had given to him for that purpose. Overcome by grief at her death, Rossetti wrapped this volume in his wife’s beautiful hair as she lay in her coffin, and so it was buried with her.

Seven years later he was persuaded to secure this book again, and its publication brought him much honor. But he felt much remorse because he had permitted the grave to be opened, and, some very severe and unkind criticisms coming to him at this time, his health began to fail. He found he could not sleep, and although he knew their terrible effects, he commenced taking narcotics. All the rest of Rossetti’s life was spent in a constant struggle against them until at last they conquered in his death.

It is not strange that Rossetti should have been interested in Dante and his writings. Rossetti’s father was so great an admirer of Dante that he named his son for him, and wrote many articles about him. Rossetti’s sister, too, wrote a book about Dante, his life and works, which she called “The Shadow of Dante.”

You can easily see how, after the death of his wife, the story of the death of Beatrice would affect Rossetti; and it is little wonder that the Beatrice of the “Beata Beatrix” should resemble his own wife. However, he did not intend this as a portrait of his wife, but only meant to show that love continues after death, and that what men call death is but a swooning into another life. Nearly all of Rossetti’s paintings are connected more or less with the tragedy of his own life, and through them we come to understand what that life must have been.

He painted many literary subjects, and among those illustrating the life of Dante and Beatrice are:

“Il Saluto di Beatrice,” which represents the meeting of Beatrice and Dante first in a street of Florence, and then in Paradise.

“Dante Drawing the Angel”—a year after Beatrice’s death Dante observed the anniversary by drawing the angel which represented Beatrice.

“Beatrice at the Wedding Feast, Denying her Salutation to Dante.”

“Dante’s Dream.” This is the largest picture Rossetti ever painted.

Other paintings are: “The Blessed Damozel,” “The Spirit of the Rainbow,” “Forced Music,” “The Bower Meadow,” “The Beloved.”

=Questions about the artist.= Where was Rossetti born? For whom was he named? Of what nationality was his father? Where was Rossetti educated? In what did he excel? What new art movement did he help to start? What was their success? Who was Elizabeth Siddall? How did she happen to study with Rossetti? What did she become? Tell about her life, marriage, and death. What did Rossetti bury with her? When did he recover the book? What caused his ill health? his death? Why did the death of Beatrice appeal to him? Whom did she resemble in this picture? What thought did Rossetti wish to express? What other pictures of Beatrice did he paint?

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THE SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS

=Studying the picture.= Several days before the lesson is to be taken up, the picture to be studied should be placed where every pupil can see it.

First of all, the children should find out for themselves what is in the picture. The questions accompanying the story of each picture are intended to help them to do this.

=Language work.= The pupils should be encouraged in class to talk freely and naturally. In this way the lesson becomes a language exercise in which the pupils will gain in freedom of expression and in the ability to form clear mental images.

If a lesson does not occupy the entire drawing period, the children should be asked to retell the story of the picture.

=Dramatization and drawing.= Most of the stories told by the pictures lend themselves readily to dramatization and, whenever practicable, such stories should be acted out. The stories also offer numerous interesting situations that may be used as subjects for drawing lessons.

=The review lesson.= The review lesson should cover all pictures and artists studied throughout the year. At this time other pictures available by the same artists should be on exhibition.

The review work may be conducted as a contest in which the pictures are held up, one at a time, while the class writes the name of the picture and the artist on slips of paper which have been prepared and numbered for that purpose. One teacher who used this device surprised her class by presenting those whose lists were correct with their choice of any of the large-sized Perry pictures studied.

Many teachers, however, will prefer to use this time for composition work, although the description of pictures is often given as an English lesson. Pupils may write a description of their favorite picture. In fact, the lessons can be made to correlate with history, geography, English, spelling, reading, or nature study.

In any event the real purpose of the work is that the pupils shall become so familiar with the pictures that they will recognize them as old friends whenever and wherever they may see them.

It is hoped that acquaintance with the picture and the interest awakened by its story will grow into a fuller appreciation and understanding of the artist’s work. Thus the children will have many happy hours and will learn to love the good, the true, and the beautiful in everything about them.

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● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_);
text that was bold by “equal” signs (=bold=).

End of Project Gutenberg's Stories Pictures Tell Book 7, by Flora Carpenter