Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 - 1882

His Life Dante was the son of an Italian patriot who had been exiled to England. His family was known for their liberal politics; his father, Gabriele, supported a revolt in Italy

His Life Their views and artistic topics were often discussed among the family as they were all very intelligent and enjoyed debating

Dante was highly gifted as a writer and an artist His philosophy of art and literature was that it should be “exclusively concerned with the beautiful, not with the useful or didactic.”

Dante’s early work was criticized as “overly sensual”; the criticism caused him to suffer from depression and nervousness for the rest of his life

Dante frequently wrote poems to accompany his own original artwork He also illustrated a large collection of his sister’s work….Christina Rossetti was a famous poet in her own right His favorite poet was Keats

He married one of his models; they had no children He died from a combination of depression and Bright’s Disease, which had destroyed his kidneys He is buried in Kent in England

His Work Dante played a central role in the founding of an artistic movement known as the “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood” Their goal was to reform English art to be simpler and more in the style of pre- Renaissance art They were creative men that did not work together very long – but they had a major impact on the art world

After falling away from the Brotherhood, Rossetti’s style became more elaborate He was known as a poet who painted for his poems, and a painter who wrote for his paintings “Color and meter; these are the true patents of nobility in painting and poetry, taking precedence of all intellectual claims; in other words, art for art’s sake”