Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Born in London to an Italian émigré scholar, he grew up in an intellectual household alongside his sister Christina, immersed in the works of Dante and Shakespeare.¹

In 1848, he founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with Hunt and Millais, rejecting post-Raphael Mannerism in favor of the detailed compositions and intense colors of the Quattrocento.¹

In his early oils, he used watercolor brushes to apply thin layers on white-primed canvases, achieving a smooth surface and transparent, luminous tints.¹

Elizabeth Siddal, met in 1850, became his primary muse, pupil, and wife, serving as a central source of artistic inspiration throughout much of his career.¹

Deeply influenced by Dante Alighieri and Arthurian romance, he entwined poetry and image, often writing sonnets to accompany his symbolic paintings.¹

Following harsh criticism in 1850, he turned to watercolors for private sale and rarely exhibited publicly, later gaining the influential support of John Ruskin.¹

His only major modern-life subject, 'Found' (begun 1853), remained unfinished as he increasingly preferred symbolic and mythological images over realism.¹

He developed a watercolor method using thick pigments mixed with gum to create rich effects similar to medieval illuminated manuscripts.¹

He inspired William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, collaborating with them on the Oxford Union murals and paving the way for the Aesthetic movement.¹

Rossetti's sensual and medievalist style was a major precursor to European Symbolism and significantly influenced the late 19th-century Aesthetic movement.¹