Editing Dante Gabriel Rossetti (section)

==Early life==
[[File:rossetti selbst.jpg|left|thumb|upright|''Self-portrait'', 1847]]
[[File:Autumn Song, Dante Gabriel Rossetti.jpg|thumb|Original manuscript of ''Autumn Song'' by Rossetti, 1848, [[Ashley Library]]]]
[[File:1904P484 - Portrait of Frances Gabriele Rossetti the Artist's Mother (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|''Portrait of Frances Gabriele Rossetti the Artist's Mother'' (1877)]]{{Quote frame|Born in [[London]], May 1828, he was given the name of Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, which he shortened into the familiar Dante Rossetti. His father was an [[Italians|Italian]], his mother a [[Tuscany|Tuscan]], but of [[Greeks|Greek]] descent; and to this mixture of warm southern blood are the children indebted for their intense natures and wealth of emotion which broke into color and song.|N. Hudson Moore|4=<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=N. Hudson |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89094358496&seq=11 |title=Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Edward Burne-Jones |date=1900 |publisher=Modern Culture |pages=1}}</ref>}}
The son of émigré Italian scholar [[Gabriele Rossetti|Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti]] and his wife [[Frances Polidori|Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori]], daughter of [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] scholar of [[Greeks|Greek]] descent [[Gaetano Polidori]], Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti was born in London, on 12 May 1828. His family and friends called him Gabriel, but in publications he put the name Dante first in honour of [[Dante Alighieri]]. He was the brother of poet [[Christina Rossetti]], critic [[William Michael Rossetti]], and author [[Maria Francesca Rossetti]].<ref>Treuherz et al. (2003), pp. 15–18.</ref> His father was a [[Roman Catholic]], at least prior to his marriage, and his mother was an [[Anglican]]; ostensibly Gabriel was baptised as and was a practising [[Anglican]]. [[John William Polidori]], who had died seven years before his birth, was Rossetti's maternal uncle. During his childhood, Rossetti was home educated and later attended [[King's College School]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rossettiarchive.org/racs/chronology.rac.html|title=Rossetti Archive Chronology Exhibit|website=www.rossettiarchive.org|access-date=1 February 2018}}</ref> and often read the [[Bible]], along with the works of [[Shakespeare]], [[Dickens]], [[Sir Walter Scott]], and [[Lord Byron]].<ref name="Dante Gabriel Rossetti">{{cite web|title=Dante Gabriel Rossetti|url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/dante-gabriel-rossetti|website=Poetry Foundation|access-date=15 June 2014}}</ref>

The youthful Rossetti is described as "self-possessed, articulate, passionate and charismatic"<ref name="Treuherz et al. 2003, p. 19">Treuherz et al. (2003), p. 19.</ref> but also "ardent, poetic and feckless".<ref>Hilton (1970), p. 26.</ref> Like all his siblings, he aspired to be a poet and attended [[King's College School, Wimbledon|King's College School]], in its original location near the [[Strand, London|Strand]] in London. He also wished to be a painter, having shown a great interest in [[Middle Ages|Medieval]] [[Art of Italy|Italian art]]. He studied at [[Henry Sass]]' Drawing Academy from 1841 to 1845, when he enrolled in the Antique School of the [[Royal Academy]], which he left in 1848. After leaving the Royal Academy, Rossetti studied under [[Ford Madox Brown]], with whom he retained a close relationship throughout his life.<ref>Treuherz et al. (2003), pp. 15.</ref>

[[File:William Holman Hunt - Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at 22 years of Age - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at 22 years of Age'' by [[William Holman Hunt]]]]

Following the exhibition of [[William Holman Hunt]]'s painting ''The Eve of St. Agnes'', Rossetti sought out Hunt's friendship. The painting illustrated a poem by [[John Keats]]. Rossetti's own poem, "[[The Blessed Damozel]]", was an imitation of Keats, and he believed Hunt might share his artistic and literary ideals. Together they developed the philosophy of the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]] which they founded along with [[John Everett Millais]].

The group's intention was to reform English art by rejecting what they considered to be the mechanistic approach first adopted by the [[Mannerism|Mannerist]] artists who succeeded [[Raphael]] and [[Michelangelo]] and the formal training regime introduced by Sir [[Joshua Reynolds]]. Their approach was to return to the abundant detail, intense colours, and complex compositions of [[Quattrocento]] Italian and Flemish art.<ref>Treuherz et al. (2003), p. 22.</ref><ref>Hilton (1970), pp. 31–35.</ref> The eminent critic [[John Ruskin]] wrote:

{{blockquote|Every Pre-Raphaelite landscape background is painted to the last touch, in the open air, from the thing itself. Every Pre-Raphaelite figure, however studied in expression, is a true portrait of some living person.<ref>Quoted in Marsh (1996), p. 21.</ref>}}

For the first issue of the brotherhood's magazine, ''The Germ'', published early in 1850, Rossetti contributed a poem, "The Blessed Damozel", and a story about a fictional early Italian artist inspired by a vision of a woman who bids him combine the human and the divine in his art.<ref>Marsh (1996), p. 21.</ref> Rossetti was always more interested in the medieval than in the modern side of the movement, working on translations of [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] and other medieval Italian poets, and adopting the stylistic characteristics of the early Italians.