The following pages do not afford any material additions to what is already known of Dante Rossetti, or of the history and purpose of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The authoritative biography of Rossetti has yet to be written; and while availing myself fully of such new details as may cast fresh side-lights upon the dominant personalities of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, my aim has rather been to present the main features of that movement in their relation to the larger intellectual tendencies of the age, and to the moral principles which have determined the growth of taste and feeling in the nineteenth century. To this end I have avoided as far as possible the proper domain of the art critic, and endeavoured to deal with the Pre-Raphaelite movement more as an ethical than an Æsthetic revolution.

“It was always known to be Rossetti’s wish,” says Mr. Hall Caine in his interesting and graphic “Recollections of Rossetti,” “that if at any moment after his death it should appear that the story of his life required to be written, the one friend who during many of his later years knew him most intimately, and to whom he unlocked the most sacred secrets of his heart, Mr. Theodore Watts, should write it; unless indeed it were undertaken by his brother William. But though I know that whenever Mr. Watts sets pen to paper in pursuance of such a purpose and in fulfilment of such charge, he will afford us a recognizable portrait of the man, vivified by picturesque illustration, the like of which few other writers could compass, I also know from what Rossetti often told me of his friend’s immersion in all kinds and varieties of life, that years (perhaps many years) may elapse before such a biography is given to the world.”

In the meantime, the present writer is indebted to Mr. J.A. Vinter, Rossetti’s fellow-student at the Royal Academy Schools, for some interesting reminiscences of class-room and studio life, and to the Rev. Walter Tuckwell, rector of Stockton, Rugby, for personal recollections of the Pre-Raphaelites at Oxford. Mr. Gerald Massey has also assisted with suggestions and notes.

Through the courtesy of present owners of Rossetti’s pictures, several important drawings and studies are here engraved for the first time. Lord Battersea and Overstrand has kindly permitted a photograph to be made from the sketch in his possession, “Mary Magdalene at the Door of Simon the Pharisee.” A similar privilege has been granted by the Corporation of Birmingham in regard to their monochrome, “The Boat of Love,” and the beautiful unfinished study of “Our Lady of Pity.” I have also to acknowledge the kindness of Mr. Moncure D. Conway, in giving access to the fine study of the “Head of Christ” in his collection, and, by no means least, of Mr. Theodore Watts, in the matter of his two superb crayons, “The Day-dream” and “Pandora.” The “Beata Beatrix” and “Ecce Ancilla Domini” are from the now familiar paintings in the National Gallery.

Hampstead,

February, 1894.