Lancaster Sound, where they were providentially rescued by a whaling vessel which was at the time lying-to there. This vessel, by one of the most marvellous coincidences upon record, was the Isabella, the identical ship in which Ross had first visited the arctic seas in 1818. In her Ross and his adventurous companions reached home. Meanwhile, in alarm at his long absence, an expedition had been sent from England in search of him.—(See Back, George.) For this voyage, in respect of which it is only justice to award to its commander the credit that is due to unflinching energy and determination, regardless of personal peril or hardship, Ross received the honour of knighthood, with the companionship of the bath, and the more substantial reward of £5000, on recommendation of a committee of the house of commons. The gold medals of the Geographical Societies of London and Paris, and those of the Royal Societies of Sweden, Austria, and Denmark, were conferred upon him, besides many other marks of distinction from public bodies at home and abroad. From 1839 to 1845, Sir John Ross filled the post of British consul at Stockholm. He shared, a few years later, in the search after Franklin, sailing in the Felix (fitted out by public subscription), which left England in the spring of 1850, and passed the ensuing winter in the neighbourhood of Cornwallis island, a voyage fruitless of any important results. In July, 1850, he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and died in November, 1856. Sir John Ross was twice married, and left one son. Several works, besides those descriptive of his voyages of 1818 and 1829, proceeded from his pen.—W. H.
ROSS, Sir William Charles, R.A., was born in London, on 3rd June, 1794. Of a family of artists, he was trained to art from his childhood, and was thus fitted to enter the Royal Academy as a student at an unusually early age. In 1807 he gained a silver medal for a copy of his uncle Anker Smith's engraving of the Death of Wat Tyler; in the four succeeding years gained the society's silver medal for drawings and miniatures, and in 1817 their gold medal for an original painting. His early ambition was to become a historical painter, but he in good time discovered that his strength lay in miniature; and he did not again essay "the grand style" till 1843, when he obtained a prize of £100 at the cartoon competition for a large cartoon of "The Angel Raphael discoursing with Adam." As a miniature painter he was perhaps the most successful of his time. He had already obtained the foremost place in the estimation of the fashionable world, when he was appointed in 1837 miniature painter to the queen. The following year he was elected A.R.A., in 1843 R.A., and a few months later was knighted. In all, his miniatures exceed two thousand in number, and include a large proportion of the aristocracy as well as the court. They are brilliant in colour, refined in style, well drawn, tasteful in arrangement, and highly finished in execution; and they are generally considered to be good likenesses. He died January 20, 1860. In the following April his miniatures were collected for exhibition in the rooms of the Society of Arts.—J. T—e.
ROSSE, William Parsons, Earl of, one of the most eminent practical astronomers of the present time, was born on the 17th of June, 1800. During the lifetime of his father until 1841, he was known as Lord Oxmantown. He was educated at the university of Oxford. From 1821 till 1834 he was member of parliament for King's County, in which his family seat stands. In 1831 he became a fellow of the Royal Society, and he was for several years president of that body. He became an Irish representative peer in 1845, was a knight of Saint Patrick, and received the decoration of the legion of honour. By great ingenuity, scientific skill, and practical knowledge of metallurgy and mechanics, combined with patient industry, he brought the art of making the metallic specula of reflecting telescopes to a degree of perfection before unknown; and made such specula of unprecedented size. His great telescope of six feet in diameter and fifty-six feet in length, is famous over the world, and has been the means of making extraordinary discoveries as to the structure of objects in the remoter regions of the heavens. Descriptions of the processes followed by him in making specula, and of the results obtained by their use, may be found in various volumes of the Philosophical Transactions since 1840; and an animated description of a visit to the observatory and an examination of the moon as seen in the great speculum, was given by Dr. R. Robinson to the Royal Irish Academy. He was elected vice-chancellor of the university of Dublin on the 12th of November, 1862, and died in 1867.—W. J. M. R.
ROSSELLINO, Antonio (but whose family name was Gamberelli), an eminent Italian sculptor, was born at Florence about 1427. He was possessed of great ability, was of a devotional turn of mind, and of rare mental and moral qualities. His chisel was in constant employment, especially for monumental sculpture. Among the more celebrated of his works are the monuments to Francesco Nori, in the chapel of Santa Croce; the Cardinal of Portugal in the monastery of San Miniato—a work which excited great admiration when erected, and which was praised by Michelangelo; several statues of the Madonna; a Nativity in the church of Sta. Maria di Monte, Naples; rilievi, fountains, portrait-busts, &c. He died, according to the Florentine editors of Vasari, in 1490.—J. T—e.
ROSSELLINO, Bernardo, elder brother of Antonio, born in 1409, practised architecture with eminent success. He was especially patronized by Pope Nicolas V., who employed him on many important works. Among other things he built several costly buildings at Civita Vecchia and Civita Castellana; the fortresses of Orvieto and Narni; rebuilt or restored the Piazza, church, &c., in Fabriano; San Benedetto in Gualdo; the baths of Viterbo; and several churches within and outside the walls of Rome. The pontiff designed to carry out far more important and extensive works in connection with the Vatican: the reconstruction of the papal palace on a scale of unequalled magnificence; some new churches within the city; the rebuilding of the forty churches of the stations of Pope Gregory I.: and for all these the genius of Bernardo was to be called into requisition. But Nicolas died before his great projects could be even begun, and they were neglected by his successor. Bernardo is, however, said to have been employed by Pius II., for whom he executed various works at Pienza. He died about 1470.—J. T—e.
* ROSSETTI, Dante Gabriel, an English painter, one of the original "pre-Raphael brethren," was born in London about 1828. His father was the late G. Rossetti, LL.D., professor of Italian in King's college, London, and well known as a commentator on Dante; and under his care young Rossetti received an excellent literary education. His leaning being towards art he was in due time entered as a student at the Royal Academy, and whilst there is understood to have originated, in conjunction with his fellow-students Hunt and Millais, that effort to revive what they considered to be the purer, more earnest, and more devotional practice of art of the Italian painters who preceded Raphael, which is now so well known as pre-Raphaelism.—(See also Hunt, William Holman, and Millais, John Everet.) Mr. Rossetti was the leader in this movement, and supported it with his pen in the "Germ," as well as with his pencil; but from not sending his pictures to the exhibitions he remains comparatively unknown to the public, though highly esteemed by a circle of warm admirers. On the whole he appears to have remained most faithful to the original creed. He delights in the symbolical treatment of religious subjects—retains the dry quaint forms, intense expression, strong positive colours, and minute finish which characterized his first works. His earliest picture in this manner was "The Girlhood of the Virgin," 1849. He has since painted other subjects from the life of the Madonna, from Scripture, and from the legends of the Saints; a series in water-colours from Dante, others from Spenser, Shakspeare, and Tennyson; in all of which a vein of poetry and refined feeling pervades and underlies the quaint hard envelope. His latest and perhaps most important work is a triptych, painted as a reredos for the high altar of Llandaff cathedral: in the centre of the triptych is a representation of the Virgin and Child in the stable, surrounded by a circle of angels, whilst in the wings David is represented on one side going forth to meet Goliath, and on the other in the armour of a mediæval knight, seated, harp in hand, on a peacock throne. Mr. Rossetti has also made a few drawings on wood for an illustrated edition of Tennyson's poems, and one or two to a little volume of verse written by his sister. Recently Mr. Rossetti has appeared with distinguished success as an author. "The Early Italian Poets, from Cuillo d'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300), in the original metres, together with Dante's Vita Nuova, translated by D. G. Rossetti," 8vo, 1862, is a work of learning, research, and poetic feeling; and shows a remarkable command of forms of metre unfamiliar to the English language.—J. T—e.
ROSSI, John Charles Felix, R.A., a distinguished English sculptor, was born of an Italian father, at Nottingham, in 1762, and learnt his art from a sculptor of the name of Lucatella.
