William Michael Rossetti

William Michael Rossetti ( born September 25, 1829 in London, † February 5, 1919 ) was a British writer and art critic. He also was one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Life

Rossetti grew up as the third of four very talented children, Maria Francesca, Dante Gabriel and Christina Georgina in an extraordinary family in Charlotte Street, near Regent's Park, on. His father, Gabriele Rossetti (1783-1854), was a poet and scientist, his salary but earned as Italian teacher. His mother, Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, daughter of Gaetano Polidori and sister of John Polidori, was also a teacher. His father taught Italian language and literature at King 's College.

A year younger than his brother Dante, they made a lot in common, so also write poetry and painting. They attended the same class at the day school of King's College until 1841, when Dante Gabriel Rossetti left college to paint. William remained until February 1845 until he was forced by the onset of blindness and failing health of his father, to contribute to the family upkeep. His desire to become a doctor once was burst. At age 16, he began work as a tax official of the Excise ( later Inland Revenue ) office with £ 80 p. However, a The did not prevent him to continue to write poetry, and in October 1848 he was the first Rossetti, was the poem "In the Shadow Hill " published in the Athenaeum and reprinted in Beautiful Poetry and Gems of National Poetry. But more importantly, he encouraged Christina Rosetti to publish their sonnets, because she was the best of the " troops ".

In the fall of 1848, John founded Everett Millais, in his London studio, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to articulate a more modern artistic representation in protest against the Royal Academy of Arts. This community belonged to the painter William Holman Hunt, the brothers Dante Gabriel and William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, the sculptor Thomas Woolner as well as the art critic Frederic George Stephens. The sympathetic members were William Dyce, Arthur Hughes, Edward Burne -Jones and Ford Madox Brown, who was never a member. Literary held Rossetti their thoughts in poems, essays in the journal The Germ 1848-1850 fixed. He was elected its editor and biographer. This included finding material to fill in the gaps to negotiate costs and to write the sonnet for the first page.

Calder Campbell, who had worked on the second edition of " The Germ ," was a copy of Sergeant Edward William Cox, a lawyer, who edited several newspapers. This pleased him and he asked William as an art critic for the " Critic" to work - but without pay. He did this only until November 1850 and Frederic G. Stephens was succeeded on this post. Ford Madox Brown proposed him for a paid post for the Spectator, which he was retained until 1878. From 1861-65, he also wrote for the " Fraser 's Magazine " and "The Academy" 1873-1878

In the period before the Präraffeliten he met after his work Dante in the " School Life " by Ford Maddox Brown and this was hoped that from his brother may be a painter once. It was not until 1857 he attended John Ruskin's class for a few months at the Working Men 's College.

Williams undivided attention to detail was the Präraffeliten and their representation of nature. His approach was based on close observations of the images and the examination of texts firsthand. This gave him confidence about his own taste and his opinion - as a young man. His critical impersonality was not flattering. He constantly sought a unvoreingenommne opinion, especially when he wrote about pictures of his friends.

At the suggestion of the publisher Macmillan 1864 William gave a review on the Summer Exhibitions 1861-64 out a collection of his weekly articles on the Präraffeliten that were published in 1851 in The Spectator, as well as a discussion of British Sculptors in 1861 and esoteric Printmaking 1863. This allowed him to express his view on contemporary art - always in his particular area of ​​interest. He used the exhibition as a springboard and wrote about the current state of British art and the direction they should take. He admits that his own opinion had about 16 years old, he moved to this area changed. His priority when looking at a painting had shifted from the content on the style. He had discovered an eye for the modern aesthetic, decorative art, as James Abbott McNeill Whistler, the "art for art's sake " painted. He was one of the earliest admirers of Whistler. In 1867 he came out with his brother from the Burlington Fine Arts Club - as a protest against the sacking of Whistler. In 1878 he testified at Ruskin process in favor of Whistler.

Since his youth he admired Shelley and he was delighted that he received from Edward Moxon & Co. the contract, reissuing Shelley's works. Between 1870 and 1873 he gave for Moxons series "Popular Poets " and " Lives of Famous Poets handsome ". Williams friendship with Edward Trelawny told him access to interesting material about Byron and Shelley, so that he in 1870 published a two -volume Exergese. He was also a founding member of the Shelly Society.

In 1868 he presented the poems of the American Walt Whitman before the British readers. Special joy made ​​him to defend the "Poems and Ballads " by Algernon Swinburne, as the press was attacked this.

1876 ​​Williams began contributions to the "Encyclopedia Britannica ," Mr. Spencer Baines was the editor, mainly - but not only - to write about Italian champions. This was a task that lasted for several years. In 1905 he revised it for republication. That was not easy, because other authors had written articles about Raphael or Michelangelo, for example.

He was obsessed with the "Democratic Sonnets ," which he wrote in 1881. His brother Dante was alarmed by the revolutionary ideas, so William this book published until 1907.

He won the recognition of his contemporaries such as Thomas Woolner, George du Maurier, John Ruskin and John Brett. From the appointment in 1850 to the art critic of The Spectator to 1878, he wrote about 400 Reviews Art of English and American magazines.

1894 William Michael Rossetti, he finished his service with the Inland Revenue Office. Thereafter, however, served as the consultant for the estate tax until 1903.

Finally, he set out to compile the letters and poems of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, her father and the PRB and publish a work of inestimable value for posterity.

In 1906 he gave his memoirs in two volumes with the title "Some Reminiscences ". During his lifetime, William was in contact with some of the most famous people in the Victorian period, as he has recorded in "Some Reminiscences " (Some memories ).

In 1874 married William Rossetti in London art student Lucy Madox Brown ( 1843-1894 ), eldest daughter of Ford Madox Brown. They had five children: Olivia, Gabriel Arthur, Helen, Mary and Michael, the latter died in infancy.

Portrait of John Everett Millais 1853 by WMR

The young mother, about 1857, WMR

Wombat Sketch by Rossetti, 1869, WMR

Meeting of the Pre-Raphaelites 1848

Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1853 by William Holman Hunt

William Micheal drawn in 1848 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Works ( incomplete)

  • Swinburne 's Poems and ballads: a criticism. By William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: John Camden Hotten, London 1866
  • Fine Art, Chiefly Contemporary: Notices Re -printed, with Revisions. Publisher: MacMillain & Co., London 1867
  • American poems. Selected and edited By William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: Ward, Lock & Co., London ( [188 -] )
  • Poems by Walt Whitman. Selected and edited by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: John Camden Hotten, London 1868
  • A Memoir of Shelley: With a Fresh Preface 2nd edition. Printed for the Shelley Society. Publisher: R. Clay & Sons 1886
  • Life of John Keats. Publisher: Walter Scott, London 1887
  • Lives of famous poets. Publisher: E. Moxon, London 1878
  • The complete works of Shakespeare. Edited with a critical biography by William Michael Rossetti. Publishers: D. Lothrop & Company, London 1882
  • The Poetical Works of Henry W. Longfellow. Edited, with a critical memoir by William Michael Rossetti. Illustrated by Thomas Seccombe. Publisher: Ward, Lock & Co., London ()
  • The complete poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Care fully revised text. In three volumes. Vol I. With notes and a memoir by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher; Gibbings & Company, London 1894
  • Poems by the late John Lucas Tupper. Chosen and edited by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: Longmans, Greene & Co., London 1897
  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti; his family -letters. Vol I With a memoir by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: Ellis & Elvey, London 1895
  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His Family Letters. Volume II With a Memoir by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: Ellis and Elvey, London 1895
  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti as designer and writer. Notes by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: Cassell & Company, London 1889
  • Ruskin: Rossetti: Preraphaelitism. Papers 1854 to 1862. Arranged and edited by William Michael Rossetti. With illustrations. Publisher: George Allen, London 1899
  • Preface to the 1901 edition of Stock " The Germ " by William Michael Rossetti. London 1899
  • The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood. Edited, with a critical memoir by William Michael Rossetti. Illustrated by Gustave Doré. Publisher: E. Moxon, Son & Co., London 1900
  • Rossetti papers, 1862-1870. A Compilation by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: Sands & Co, London 1903
  • Gabriele Rossetti; a versified autobiography. Translated and supplemented by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: Sands & Co., London 1901
  • Some Reminiscences of William Michael Rossetti. Vol I. Publisher: Charles Scribner's & Son, New York 1906
  • Some Reminiscences of William Michael Rossetti. Vol II Publisher: Charles Scribner's & Son, New York 1906
  • Democratic Sonnets. Publisher: Allston Rivers, London 1907
  • The family letters of Christina Georgina Rossetti. Edited by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: C. Scribner 's son, New York 1908
  • The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori, 1816, Relating to Byron, Shelley, etc. Edited and elucidated by William Michael Rossetti. Publisher: Elkin Mathews, London 1911
  • More Books by WM Rossetti in the Internet Archive online
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