Information

Frances Polidori married Gabriele Rossetti, an Italian emigre, in 1826. She had four children in four years: Maria, Gabriel, William and Christina. Her husband, who became Professor of Italian at King's College, London, in 1831, maintained a wide circle of acquaintances - artists, men of letters, political exiles etc. - and the household was by all accounts a lively one. Rossetti's biographers are unanimous about the importance of his relationship with his mother, who is consistently described by those who knew her as a woman of actute judgement and intelligence. This one of three portraits of Rossetti's mother in BMAG's collection.

  • Purchased and presented by subscribers, 1903.
  • © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Makers

Association Artist Organisation
Artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti -

Inscriptions

Type Position(s) Method Date(s) Notes
1853
Date bottom right Scratched -
 

Exhibitions

Catalogue No. Venue Date(s)
Works by English Pre-Raphaelite Painters Lent by the Art Gallery Committee of the Birmingham Corporation
41 Tate Gallery, London 1911-12 - 1912-03
 
Sacred Bond: Images of Motherhood
no cat. no. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery 1990-09-22 - 1990-11-18
 

Literature

Author(s) Date(s) Publisher Pages
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: an Illustrated Memorial of his Art and Life
H C Marillier 1899 George Bell and Sons, London no. 320.
 
City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Drawings
A E Whitley 1939 Bemrose & Sons, Limited., Derby p. 347.
 
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882, The Paintings and Drawings: A Catalogue Raisonne
Virginia Surtees 1971 Oxford University Press, London vol. 1, no. 446, p. 187.
 
Pre-Raphaelite Drawings: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Andrea Rose 1977 The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London no. 2F5.

Provenance

Charles Howell, Charles Fairfax Murray

Associated people

Name Type
Frances Rossetti Depicted

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