“Places that are empty of you are empty of life.”
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(May 12, 1828 – April 9, 1882)
Happy Birthday!
Tag Archives: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante’s Kid Sister – Christina
“Tread softly! All the earth is holy ground.”
Christina Rossetti
Every Christmas, I listen to In the Bleak Mid-Winter, never realizing the connection to Art Nouveau and the Pre-Raphaelites. That is, until recently. Dante Rossetti’s kid sister, Christina, wrote the poem which was set as a Christmas carol by Gustav Holst and then by Harold Darke.
Christina arrived on December 5, 1830 to parents connected to the art world. Her father, Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti, born in Vasto, Abruzzo, Italy, was a poet who immigrated to England as a political refugee because of his support for the Italian revolutionary nationalism. Her mother, Frances Polidori was the sister of John William Polidori, the friend and physician of Lord Byron. The Rossetti union produced four children: Dante, the poet and artist, William and Maria, the writers, and Christina the poet. Continue reading
Art Nouveau: Morris, Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
“The past is not dead, it is living in us, and will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make.”
William Morris
In my June 22nd post, William Morris, along with soon-to-be life-long friend, Edward Burne-Jones, entered Exeter College at Oxford determined to become Anglican clergymen. It wasn’t long before they both gave up this idea to devote their energies on social reform. William had two ideas in mind: 1) to become an architect and 2) to launch a magazine that would include poetry, short stories, and social articles. In 1856, both ideas came to fruition. He was accepted as a pupil at the office of George Edmund Street, an English Gothic revival architect. The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine, at his expense, came out on New Year’s Day of the same year. William gave up his editorship position after the first issue. Even though the articles were noteworthy, the magazine lost momentum in its first and final year. Out of this venture, William became friends with one of the contributors: Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This meeting was to have great significance for both men. Continue reading
