Graphite and watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Rossetti and his Friends
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-max-beerbohm-722" aria-label="More by Sir Max Beerbohm" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Max Beerbohm</a>
Rossettis Courtship
Bequeathed by Sir Hugh Walpole 1941
adults
animals: mammals
artist, painter
arts and entertainment
caricature
courting
document - non-specific
domestic
fine arts and music
fireplace
heating and lighting
individuals: female
individuals: male
interiors
man
mouse
named groups
named individuals
objects
painting
people
portraits
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
reading, writing, printed matter
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel
sex and relationships
Siddal, Elizabeth Eleanor
social comment
society
studio
study
woman
work and occupations
workspaces
<p>Elizabeth Siddal was introduced to the Pre-Raphaelite circle by Walter Deverell in 1850. Her striking looks were the inspiration for many of Rossetti's pictures, and continued to exert their power even after her death twelve years later. By 1854 it seemed that she and Rossetti might marry, but it was only in 1860 that he finally agreed to wed her. Before meeting Rossetti, Siddal had made her own untutored drawings, but with his encouragement she produced a number of haunting and original watercolours. John Ruskin, who provided some financial support, considered her one of the five geniuses he had encountered in his life (the others were J.M.W.Turner, G.F.Watts, J.E.Millais and Rossetti).</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
paper unique graphite watercolour
17 February 2015 – 7 June 2015
2015-06-07
17 February 2015 – 7 June 2015
2015-06-07
2015-02-17
Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village (Compton, UK)
http://www.wattsgallery.org.uk
2015-02-17
Fashion and Feminism: Aesthetic Dress in Victorian Portraiture
Loan-out
Rossetti’s Courtship
support: 324 × 210 mm
Bequeathed by Sir Hugh Walpole 1941
<p>Elizabeth Siddal was introduced to the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/pre-raphaelite" title="Glossary definition for 'Pre-Raphaelite'"><span>Pre-Raphaelite</span></a> circle by Walter Deverell in 1850. Her striking looks were the inspiration for many of Rossetti's pictures, and continued to exert their power even after her death twelve years later. By 1854 it seemed that she and Rossetti might marry, but it was only in 1860 that he finally agreed to wed her. Before meeting Rossetti, Siddal had made her own untutored <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a>, but with his encouragement she produced a number of haunting and original <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolours</span></a>. John Ruskin, who provided some financial support, considered her one of the five geniuses he had encountered in his life (the others were J.M.W.Turner, G.F.Watts, J.E.Millais and Rossetti).</p>
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2004-09-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/beerbohm-rossettis-courtship-a01040" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A01040</span></a>	[from] ROSSETTI AND HIS FRIENDS (TWENTY-THREE DRAWINGS) 1916–17 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/beerbohm-d-g-rossetti-precociously-manifesting-that-queer-indifference-to-politics-a01038" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A01038</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/beerbohm-the-name-of-dante-gabriel-rossetti-is-heard-for-the-first-time-in-the-western-a01060" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A01060</span></a>; complete]
<br/> 
<br/>Bequeathed by Sir Hugh Walpole 1941.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Mrs Charles Hunter; from whom purchased by the Leicester Galleries; from whom purchased by Sir Hugh Walpole 1921.
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Lynch, 1921, pp.146–50.</p>
<p>A series of twenty-three <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a>, variously dated 1916 and 1917. Fifteen were lent by Mrs Charles Hunter to the <i>Modern Loan Exhibition</i>, Grosvenor Gallery, November 1917 (98); the complete series was first exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, September 1921 (1), in the order in which they are given here, again as <i>Rossetti and his Friends</i>. They were published in book form by Heinemann in 1922 as <i>Rossetti and His Circle</i>, possibly an allusion to Rossetti's <i>Dante and His Circle</i>, the second edition of his translations from the early Italian poets, published in 1874. The complete series of drawings was further exhibited in <i><a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>Paintings</span></a> and Drawings of the 1860 Period</i>, Tate Gallery, April–July 1923 (336), and was on loan to the Tate Gallery from June 1938. For further details, see below (artists represented in the collection will be fully discussed in the appropriate section of the catalogue).</p>
<p>(iii) Inscr. ‘Rossetti's Courtship - Chatham Place, 1850–1860’ b.c. and ‘Max 1916’ b.r.
<br/>Pencil and watercolour, 12 1/2×8 1/4 (32×21).
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Grosvenor Gallery, November 1917 (98, 3); Leicester Galleries, September 1921 (3); Tate Gallery, April–July 1923 (336, 3); <i>Hugh Walpole's Collection</i>, French Gallery, May–June 1937 (20); on loan to the Tate Gallery from June 1938.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Rossetti and His Circle</i>, 1922, pl.2 (in colour).</p>
<p>Rossetti met Elizabeth Siddal in 1850 and, according to his brother, they became engaged late the following year, but they did not get married until 1860. Rossetti lived at Chatham Place from 1852 until his wife's death in 1862.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults animals: mammals artist, painter arts and entertainment caricature courting document - non-specific domestic fine arts and music fireplace heating and lighting individuals: female individuals: male interiors man mouse named groups named individuals objects painting people portraits Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood reading, writing, printed matter Rossetti, Dante Gabriel sex and relationships Siddal, Elizabeth Eleanor social comment society studio study woman work and occupations workspaces