Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Pre-Raphaelite founder Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) divided his creative energy between painting and poetry, achieving distinction in both. Born in London to an Italian political refugee and Dante scholar, he reversed his names to honor the medieval poet whose work obsessed him. In 1848, he founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt, seeking to revive the sincerity of art before Raphael.

Rossetti's art featured sensuous female figures drawn from medieval literature and personal obsession. Elizabeth Siddal, his muse and later wife, appeared in early works before her death from laudanum overdose in 1862. Jane Morris, wife of William Morris, dominated his later paintings with her distinctive features and masses of dark hair. His work anticipated Symbolism and the Aesthetic Movement, influencing artists from Burne-Jones to the European Symbolists. The Tate Britain holds major works including The Girlhood of Mary Virgin and Proserpine. The Birmingham Museum and Delaware Art Museum also preserve significant collections.