The Rossetti family , helm by Gabriele and Frances , was soundly enmeshed in the arts . Papa Gabriele was a Dante Alighieri learner and a professor of Italian at King ’s College London , while his married woman , Frances , was a governess and teacher . All four of their children also pursued careers in the liberal arts and education , including their boy Dante . Today , we ’ll take a closer look at Dante Rossetti and his 1867 painting , " Lady Lilith . "
1 . impound to the original frame of " Lady Lilith " was an identifier , of sorts :
The lines are direct from Percy Bysshe Shelley ’s translation of the Walpurgisnacht scene in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’sFaust .
2 . Rossetti was actually born Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti ; he was known to his friends as " Gabriel . " In publications and on artwork , though , he used " Dante " in honor of Dante Alighieri . He release several translation of Dante and other Medieval Italian poets , and several of his painting are Dante - inspired scenes .
3 . Friends of Rossetti were sometimes asked to touch him at the " Wombat ’s Lair " in the London Zoo . He make love exotic animals , especially wombats , and even had two as pets . Top , his first pet wombat , would accompany Rossetti to the dinner party tabular array and was even grant to sleep in the table ’s bombastic centerpiece during meals .
4 . The sonnet " Body ’s Beauty " was written by Rossetti about " Lady Lilith " in foeman to " Soul ’s looker , " which he compose about his painting " Sibylla Palmifera . "
5 . Rossetti was not only a poet and a painter , but also a room decorator of stained glass , a critic , and a translator . His older sister , Christina , was a poet as well , while his young sib Michael and Maria were a critic and an generator , respectively . Elizabeth Siddal , his wife , served as a model for Rossetti and other painter , but finally became a painter herself , at which clock time she give up modeling .
6 . Both Rossetti and his wife succumbed to the dangers of drugs . The two were married in 1860 and Siddal give birth to a stillborn fry the following year . Within a class , she die of an overdose of laudanum . Rossetti became progressively depressed after her end , even locomote so far as to swallow his unpublished ms with his wife . ( He after exhumed and put out them . ) In the terminal geezerhood of his life , Rossetti was addicted to chloral and gradually became less mentally static . He expire on Easter Sunday , 1882 , just over twenty long time after the death of his wife .
Alarger versionof " Lady Lilith " is available from the Walker Art Gallery . pen works by Dante , Christina , William , and William ’s wife Lucy are useable onProject Gutenberg .
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