Dante Gabriel Rosetti

In my series of artists I admire I’ve chosen for the next one, Dante Gabriel Rosetti. I did say I would pick a dead artist this time!

Rosetti was a poet, illustrator and painter perhaps best known for his work with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood during 1848 as one of its founding members. Together with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Milais the brotherhood founded what could be considered as the modern art industry, selling prints of work and illustrating books. This made art more commercial and more public but retained the ideology of the Pre-Raphaelites.

His work is closely linked with female sensuality and medieval romanticism. Rosetti fostered an interest in medieval art from a young age during his time at Kings College School and The Royal Academy.

Often his work features medieval style compositions and deep colours from a very natural colour pallet; maroon, burgundy and deep forest greens. Mythological arthurian legends and italian folklore appear as common inspirational themes.

Rosetti’s private life and love of women often comes to the fore as a subject for his paintings, particularly featuring his eventual wife Elizabeth Siddal as a sitter for a number of paintings. He also won the eventual support of John Ruskin who became a patron for the brotherhood. However Ruskin’s criticism of Rosetti’s work made him more introverted and unwilling to create pieces for public showcasing.

The Victorian social landscape during the 18th Century was undergoing great change. You only have to know a little about Dickensian novels which heavily feature the plight of widowed women and the poorhouse. Along side social change was great scientific and manufacturing change, the industrial revolution meant that goods could be mass produced and people were progressing forwards towards a machine age.

Arguably the work of the Pre-Raphaelites was a direct backlash against the encroachment of mechanisation and everyday struggles of the working man harkening back to a mythical simpler time.

I enjoy his work mainly because of how it portrays the female form. The very striking looks of the women, which are portrayed in a liberating manner – both powerful and feminine. As a teenager I found these images particularly inspiring and compelling from both an artistic point of view and how empowering it is.

When you look at the way the women look its highly stylised, at times almost graphically styled yet retaining realism. This intentional stylising could have something to do with Rosetti’s later friendship with designer William Morris.

I’ve also always loved the natural imagery of Rosetti’s work. Its my own personal view that in many ways we’ve lost touch with nature due to the computer being the domineering force in modern times. Perhaps once it was the vast machinery in mills that kept us indoors but now computers have us in their digital grip. Its that wild abandon of freedom which I think is so beautiful.

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