Dante Gabriel Rossetti - His Family-Letters, with a Memoir by William Michael Rossetti (Paperback)

The Rossettis were one of the most remarkable and talented families in Victorian Britain. Of the two parents and three siblings, Dante Gabriel (1828 82) and Christina (1830 94) stood out, but throughout their lives they remained a tightly-knit unit. William Michael (1829 1919), who published this two-volume work in 1895, was the family record keeper and in the memoir of his brother we have an unmatched account of the family dynamic. He was not always candid about his brother's affairs but his biography is unparalleled for its fresh directness. Unlike all subsequent biographers, William wrote from the inside, and even if he was unable to tell the whole story, the intimate details of the day-to-day life of the great painter and poet have about them the ring of truth and authenticity. Volume 2 contains hundreds of Dante's letters to his family, with helpful explanatory notes by William.