[MacCracken]

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1853 May 31

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

The drawing was sent as part of DGR's letter to Walter Howell Deverell, 31 May 1853, along with a brief parodic commentary. The drawing and letter reference Francis MacCracken, the patron and collector often comically treated by DGR and his friends. In this case DGR writes that “Mac Crac seems to be in a frightful state of excitement to see your picture” (see Fredeman, Correspondence 53.35 and plate 8 (I. 265)). The picture must have been Deverell's The Banishment of Hamlet. This sketch shows an excited MacCracken being shown a picture while a doctor is taking his pulse. Three unknown figures are in the background. See the related sketches, [Rossetti, Deverell and MacCracken], [Deverell and Rossetti] and [Deverell, Rossetti and MacCracken at an Exhibition]as well as DGR's parodic sonnet “MacCracken”.

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: sa247.raw.xml