Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/337

ROSSETTI. 305 ROSSETTI. many of his best known pictures. Slie died two ycais later, and Kosscili ncvi-r recovered from the slioek. In addition to this grief lie was much troubled l>y a bitter attack made (in 1871) ui)on tile morality of bis poems, in an article en- titled -Tbe Fk'sbly Scbool of Poetry." This wiis written by Robert Buchanan, who.se identity, veiled under the p.semlonyni of 'Thomas Mail- land,' was not revealed until some time after- wards. The charge was vigorously rebutted by Swinburne, and by Rossetti himself under the title "The Stealthy School of Criticism." His mental depression brought on, by ISlJS, chronic insomnia, for which lie sought to find relief in chloral. The drug obtained an unhappy mastery over him, which threw a tragical gloom upon his later years, relieved only by the creative play of his mind, which continued almost to the la.st to produce pictures and poems of singular beaut v. He died at Birchington, April 10, 18S2. It is hard to say whether Rossetti deserves a more lasting place in the history of poetry or in that of painting. At twenty he wrote a remark- able poem, which, perhaps better than any other, illustrates the Pre-Raphaelite movement on its literary side — "The Blessed Damosel"; the com- bination of simplicity and concreteness with lofty spirituality, which makes it typical of the aims of the school both in literature and art, appears also in another of his early poems, "Jly Sister's Sleep." The great bulk of his poetr.v was not published until 1870. In despair at the death of his wife he placed in her cotiiii all his unpub- lished writings, and there they remained buried until at the urgent request of his friends he con- sented to have them e.xhumed. This volume, an- other of liallads rind Sonnets ( 1881 ) . and a series of translations from early Italian poets, Dnnte and His Circle (1874), contain the whole of his poetical accomplishment. His only imaginative work in prose was the delicate and spiritual story, Hnitd and SonI (18.50). He made sev- eral attempts in ballad form, two of which, "Sister Helen" and '■The King's Tragedy," are especially remarkable; the latter illustrates his dramatic power at its highest. A special place must be accorded to his great sonnet-sequence, "The House of Life," which in its final form con- tains a hundred and one magnificent sonnets in- spired chiefly by the love and the loss of his wife. In them the language and imagery grev much more elaborate than in his earlier work. His poetry as a whole has been called 'painter's poetry,' from its constant ajipeal to the eye, mak- ing it "a kind of poetical tapestry, stiff with em- blazoned images." Picturesqueness and visual beauty are its most salient characteristics. His paintings fall readily into three periods. There are. first, the small biblical |)ietures of which "Ecce Ancilla Domini" and the "Girlhood of llary Virgin" are best known. Second, the Dante pictures, in which there is a brilliant imaginative Romanticism, the most inijiortant being "(iiotto Painting the Portrait nf Dante." "The Salutation of Beatrice on Karth and in Eden." "La Pia." Beata Beatrix" (National Gallery, London), and Dante's Dream" (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool). "La Donna della Finestra" (1870) is counted among his ripest creations, but "Dante's Dream" perhaps' shows the painter at bis zenith. Rossetti's wife sat for many of this series. The third period was oc- cupied almost exclusively with the 'painting of the soul,' when he painted feminine figures fur- nished with poi'iic attriliiiles, (In- deeper nicun ings of which he inlcrpreted in hi- iMiein-. Among tlioe pictures tln' "Sphinx" alone e<m tains several liguies. "The IHenscd Damosel." "Fiammetta," "The Day Dream," ".slurte .'^yria ca," "ilonna I'omona," and others are -eparatc figures dcilieateil to the memory of his wife. Hn- sctti's tall (I'odiic figures are nioliuuless and silent, and are eloquent only through their spirit ual hands and dreamy eyes. He drajn-- lii» figures in Venetian fashion and strews Mowers about them, especially roses and hyacinths. A realistic picture, "Found," an illiiKtralion of the tragedy of .seduction, occupies the place amcuig his pictures which ".Iciiny" holds among his poehis. Rossetti as a painter was not |iarlicuhir about details and was often awkward in line, but in color he W'as clearly the best of the PreUu phaelite group. He revels in glowing, sensnou-^ lines, and had much decorative feeling. He painted as he wrote, in a mystical, romantic spirit. Many of his pictures are scatterol in English country houses, and in private collections in Florence and in .- ierica. His collected works were ])ul)lished by his brother, William Michael, in 188(i, and his fam- ily letters (with a memoir) in 18(1.5; also /■/>■• h'aphaclitc Diaries and Letters (I'.tOO). Consult also: biographies bv William .*<harp (London, 1882) ; Knight (ib.,"l887) : Hall Caine, llrculler- tions of Dante tliihriel Rossetti (ib., 188'i): Tirebuck, /{ussetti. His Work and Influence ( ib.. 1882) ; Wood, I{<isselti and the Pre-llai>haelile Moretnent (N'ew York. I8'.t4) ; Cary, The Uox settis (il)., 1000); Marillier, /{ossein (London. 1901 ) ; essays hy Sarrazin, in I'ni-tes inodernes de I'Angleterre (Paris, 188.5) ; Swinburne, in l-^ssaiis and Studies (London, 1875); and Pater, in Ward's "English Poets" (ib., 1883). ROSSETTI, i:.vBRlEr,E (1783-18.54). An Ital- ian author, born at Vasto. He at first dedicated himself to painting, but renounced this lareer to devote himself to letters. In 1S14 Miirat made him Secretary of Instruction and the Fine Arts. As a member of the secret society of the Car- bonari. Rossetti had a hand in the Napoleonic Revolution of 1820. and in his lieautiful ode Sei pur hella he apjieared as the poet of this move- ment. When King Ferdinaml returned to power, he had to take refuge alioanl an English vessel. After a couple of years in Malta, lie went to Lon- don in 1824. where in 1831 lie was appointed to a post in King's College. He was a most en- thusiastic student of the work of Dante ami sought to develop a fantastically alisurd theory according to which Dante and the oilier great writers of his time wrote in a sort of ('oiiven tional jargon for the purpose of dilTu-ing Ma sonic doctrines. This is the idea that actiiati-s Rossetti's Coniiiienia annlilieo siilln Diriiia i'niii- media (London. 1821!) . and other treatises. Ros- setti cnntinued to produce verse of facile inven- tion and intensely patriotic in expression; his Iddio c I'liomo snilerio appeared in 1840. his Veqgente in snlitiidine in I84r.. and his .4r;«i eraiiflelien in 18.52. He bei'aine blind in 184.5 Three of his children have Imm-u prnmineni in English art and lettersof thenineleenthcentury — Daiite Gabriel. Christina Georgina. aiid William Michael Ros.setti. Consult: Cardiici'i's ed. (with a preface) of the I'oeaie di dnbriclc Rossrili