My Favorite Artists and Their Art: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Poet.  Painter.  Illustrator.  Translator.  There are many labels which could be ascribed to Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  I think of him most often as an aesthetic idealist and as the leading figure in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.  His artwork evokes all the medieval pageantry, love and yearning, and lyricism of a troubadour’s song.  Drawing from a small number of beatific models from the Pre-Raphaelite movement, such as Lizzie Siddal, Jane Morris, Alexa Wilding, and Fanny Cornforth, Rossetti created an iconic gallery of ethereal women;  some callous and detached, some angelic and graceful, but all stunningly rendered by his skillful hand.  Of all the 19th Century artists, he remains among my favorites.

“Lady Lilith” (1868)

“Beata Beatrix” (1864-1872)

“The Damsel of the Sanct Grael” (1874)

“Sibylla Palmifera” (1866-1870)

“Astarte Syriaca” (1877)

“Proserpine” (1874)

“The Salutation of Beatrice” (1869)

“Alexa Wilding” (1877)

“Veronica Veronese” (1872)

“Venus Verticordia” (1864-1868)

“Lady Lilith” (1868)

“Beata Beatrix” (1864-1872)

“The Damsel of the Sanct Grael” (1874)

“Sibylla Palmifera” (1866-1870)

“Astarte Syriaca” (1877)

“Proserpine” (1874)

“The Salutation of Beatrice” (1869)

“Alexa Wilding” (1877)

“Veronica Veronese” (1872)

“Venus Verticordia” (1864-1868)