Rossetti’s Portraits

Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted some of the 19th century’s most striking and spectacular portraits. The most haunting are of the three muses who obsessed his life: Lizzy Siddal, his bride, who died tragically young; Fanny Cornforth, the forthright blonde ‘stunner’ who was also his mistress and companion; and Jane Burden, the grey-eyed goddess unhappily married to his friend William Morris. Rossetti’s luscious paintings of these three women unforgettably fixed the Pre-Raphaelite type; but his many drawings show an unexpected delicacy and tenderness that are often moving. This richly illustrated book by two experts, Christopher Newall and Sylvie Broussine, explores the ramifications of Rossetti’s life and art.