HAVING been asked more than once if I was compiling a life of Rossetti, I think it well to disclaim at the outset any such presumptuous intention. A life of Rossetti, in the full sense of the word, could only be written by one who was intimately and sympathetically associated with his work during the major portion of his career; and of the very few who could have undertaken the task some are no longer alive, whilst others have either abandoned or postponed it until too late. For this reason we can hardly expect now to have a life of this great and most original genius, written by anyone with enough knowledge to interpret his many-coloured personality, yet sufficiently disinterested to form a critical estimate of his true position and influence.

Biographical works and data there are in profusion. The admirably conscientious labours of Mr. William Michael Rossetti have resulted in placing before the public copious records of the painter's external life, and of his private life as well so far as it is revealed in letters to the members of his family. What these do not give us is the man in relation to his work, and what they do give us is not always strictly important. Nevertheless they constitute the most valuable body of materials yet published, and no biographer could affect to disregard them. They have been supplemented recently by the publication of Ruskin's letters to Rossetti and Rossetti's letters to William Allingham, both immensely interesting to students of the subject, but not by any means exhaustive of the periods they cover. The only other sources of information that seem to me worth mentioning are Mr. William Sharp's memoir, which would have been better had it been less hastily compiled; Mr. Joseph Knight's littlevolume in the series, dealing chiefly with the poems; Mr. W. M. Rossetti's chronological record called “ ”; William Bell Scott's “ ,” compiled when the author was too much embittered to write fairly; and Mr. F. G. Stephens's handymonograph in the series. In addition might be mentioned Mr. Watts-Dunton's article in the “.” There are of course many other books, and much periodical literature dealing with Rossetti, but, with the single exception of Mr. Holman Hunt's articles in the of 1886 on the “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood,” these are not of great account. One or two who claim to have written with intimate knowledge of their subject labour under the disadvantage of not having known Rossetti until the latter clouded years of his life, when his vigour and health were impaired, and he had apparently lost the power of personal discrimination.

Of the materials which I have mentioned it would be ungrateful to complain, seeing that as occasion demanded I have used or borrowed from most of them. I must, however, say that careful research has not always tended to confirm the information they afforded, and I may claim, I think, for this memoir that it will be found correct on many points where errors previously existed. Three of the above-named authorities, Mr. Sharp, Mr. Knight, and Mr. W. M. Rossetti, have published catalogues or lists of Rossetti's pictures, giving dates and a few other scanty particulars. Mr. Rossetti's list is certainly by far the best of these, though not itself complete, the two earlier ones being almost useless now for purposes of reference. I say this with no intention of disparagement, for Mr. Sharp's list was a wonderful one to have compiled in the time allowed him; and he had no previous data to work on, whereas I have had three lists to collate and check, and possibly better opportunities of acquiring information. In addition I have received much help with some of the more tangled problems both from Mr. Rossetti and from Mr. Fairfax Murray, the latter of whom is recognized as an expert in all matters connected with Rossetti's work. To Mr. Murray moreover I am indebted for kindly checking the list of works and dates which appears as an appendix to this volume, as well as for revising some of the proofs. What use I have made of the assistance so generously given is my own affair, and for this I alone am answerable. In acknowledging the benefit I do not wish to alienate the responsibility.

What I have aimed at chiefly is to interweave a simple account of the painter's life with a detailed chronological record of his artistic work. In this way, by following certain broad divisions, a fairly continuous narrative is made possible without jumbling up pictures and incidents too confusedly. In dealing with the pictures in the text I have followed a system which I think should be found useful, as I myself have found the lack of it in other books somewhat irritating; namely, I have grouped under the first, or sometimes under the most important version of any particular subject, a list of all the other versions and replicas which exist of it. These versions and replicas are then referred to again briefly or in detail as may be under the different years to which they belong. Some such system is absolutely necessary in dealing with Rossetti's work, for the multitude of replicas and variants is bewildering, and most of the errors which I have encountered have been due to confusion arising on this account. As an instance of the kind of tangle met with, who could foresee such a confusion of dates and pictures as exists in the case of the subject, or (without personal knowledge of the facts) understand the complicated changes in the history of the panels, given in this book, I believe, for the first time.

Whilst trying to compile a record of Rossetti's work which should be comprehensive, accurate, and useful as a work of reference, I have not forgotten that essentially it was a picture book that was wanted. In respect of the illustrations, moreover, I can speak with greater freedom; and first, it is pleasant to acknowlege that almost without exception the owners of Rossetti's pictures have courteously allowed them to be reproduced, and have given special facilities for photographing them. In some cases this was no ordinary politeness, but a very generous concession, involving a violation of fixed principles. Mr. Rae, it is well known, has for many years disapproved most strongly of indiscriminate reproduction, and has refused all applications to let his pictures be photographed for such a purpose, the only exceptions being when he allowed Mr. Quilter to reproduce in “,” and Mr. Stephens to include a few small subjects in his already mentioned monograph done for “ .” I cannot, therefore, express my obligation to him sufficiently strongly for placing his magnificent collection at my disposal, and allowing me to reproduce eleven of his pictures; namely, , , , , (both the large oil and the littlewater-colour), , , , the early pen-and-ink diptych of , and the beautiful crayon head of a . Mr. Beresford Heaton, whose objections were almost equally invincible, has at the last moment allowed me to include the charming early water-colour and from his collection. Mr. Fairfax Murray has been not less generous in allowing his drawings to be reproduced than in helping me with facts, and though there are one or two treasures that he has withheld for special reasons, I am indebted to him for permission to include , , , , with thepen-and-ink study, , the early sketch called , a pencil drawing for , and several minor items, including some designs for pictures never reproduced before. Mr. Watts-Dunton has allowed me to include , Rossetti's one nude figure, which has never before been given, as well as his , , and another drawing. Mr. Wells, R.A., has contributed two interesting portraits of Miss Siddal [portrait 1] [portrait 2] and the water-colour —the companion drawing to which (in point of date and history), viz., , has been lent by its present owner, Mr. John Aird, M.P. Other owners who have obligingly given me access to their pictures, and have in one or two cases even sent them to London to be photographed, are Mr. W. R. Moss, Mr. S. Pepys Cockerell, Mr. Francis Buxton, Mr. Charles Butler, Mrs. Jekyll, Lord Battersea and Overstrand, Mr. William Imrie, Mrs. Clarence Fry, Mr. Trist, Mrs. Coronio, Mr. Constantine Ionides, Mrs. A. Ionides, Sir Cuthbert Quilter, Prof. C. E. Norton, Mr. T. H. Leathart, Mr. F. J. Tennant, Mr. Russell Rea, Mr. S. E. Spring-Rice, Mr. A. T. Squarey, the Rev. S. A. Donaldson, Mr. William Dunlop, Mr. Charles Ricketts, Dr. Spence Watson, Mr. Arthur Severn, Mr. Cosmo Monkhouse, Mrs. Constance Churchill, the Hon. Percy Wyndham, Sir Henry Acland, Dr. H. A. Munro, and the Corporation Art Galleries of Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool. Mr. Rossetti has given me practically a free hand in the reproduction of family portraits and drawings belonging to him, and has also allowed me to use many of the negatives of pictures that were specially made for his brother, sometimes before alterations of a disastrous kind had been undertaken. To Mr. Frederick Hollyer, Mr. Caswall Smith, and the Autotype Company, I owe an expression of thanks for generously giving me the use of many of their copyright negatives, and to Messrs. Macmillan no less for the right to reproduce the five wood-blocks[block 1] [block 2] [block 3] [block 4] [block 5] done for Moxon's and two others[plate 1] [plate 2] from Miss Christina Rossetti's books. Messrs. b1 Sotheran, Mr. Duckworth, and the editor of the “ ” have kindly lent me various blocks or plates, and, finally, Messrs. Cassell have my thanks for allowing two pictures to be reproduced from the “ .”

With a few rare exceptions, owing to owners' refusals, or in the case of and from the pictures being held in trust, there is scarcely a work of individual importance by Rossetti which will not be found illustrated in this book or in some way represented. In general, moreover, where a choice existed, it is the best version of each particular subject from which the reproduction has been made, though there are cases where this was not possible, owing to the pictures having gone abroad or become untraceable. It would hardly be believed how difficult Rossetti's pictures are to find since their dispersal after the great Graham, Leyland, Turner, Ruston, and Leathart sales. Even with the kind help of Mr. Croal Thomson and Messrs. Agnew there are many that I have not located, though I have been fortunate in borrowing private photographs of some of these and published prints of others. No doubt the constantly increasing value of Rossetti's works is partly responsible for their restlessness, but there is something almost melancholy in the way that they seem perpetually to change hands. The Rae and Heaton collections are almost the only ones of importance that have remained intact. Mr. Ruskin, who at one time had quite a number of good water-colours, has parted with all but the unfinished , and no one seems to know where some of them have gone. The Boyce collection has shared the same fate, though in this case the bulk of it has passed into the hands of Mr. Murray, who amid the maelstrom of flux and change has constituted himself a sort of natural vortex or harbour of refuge.

This is one of the circumstances which has made the illustration of a book on Rossetti not altogether easy, and which may have prevented its being undertaken before. Even now I am conscious of many omissions and failures, which mar the completeness of the work. But it is no part of an author's duty to specify these for his readers, most of whom will be ready enough to find them, and perfectly candid in pointing them out.