The Two Faces of Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Rossetti's Portraits -- well, up to a point. There are some gorgeous paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti of his favourite sitters and his muses that are the star attractions of this show about the Pre-Raphaelite at the Holburne Museum in Bath. 

But amid all the big hair and the pouting red lips, just how many really are portraits, giving you an insight into the characters of the women he's depicted? And how many are those idealised visions of enigmatic women Rossetti seemed to specialise in, those ladies of the town with the kiss of a snake that LS Lowry found so attractive. 

For example, here's Alexa Wilding, one of Rossetti's most frequent models, though, for once, apparently not one of his love interests. She's posed as Monna Vanna, the vain woman, a painting originally entitled Venus Veneta, representing the Venetian ideal of female beauty. Staring into the distance, resplendent in a billowing, ornate gown and fingering her fantastic fan and her coral necklace, she's not interacting with you. This, surely, is one of those paintings that's all about colour, shape and texture rather than any real attempt at portraiture. 

So where are the actual portraits, you may ask. Well, it's less in the big set-piece paintings than in the drawings that make up the bulk of this relatively small show that we see Rossetti's ability as a portraitist. 

We're told at the start that Rossetti recorded the likenesses of about 90 different people over his lifetime, and we get to see about a dozen. Right at the start it's men: fellow members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood early in Rossetti's career. Here's the sculptor Thomas Woolner, about to leave England for a new life in Australia in 1852, and Rossetti's pencil seems to have captured the apprehension in Woolner's expression. 

These drawings, appealing in their directness and simplicity, were often exchanged as gifts between the artists. In 1853, Rossetti was one of only two friends at the ceremony when Ford Madox Brown married his model Emma Hill in secret. Rossetti made this portrait of Emma on the day and it was presumably intended as his present to them both. 

If Emma looks vaguely familiar, it's because she was the model for one half of the emigrant couple in Brown's most famous painting, The Last of England. 

But the bulk of this exhibition focuses on Rossetti's three famous muses: his wife Lizzie Siddal, Fanny Cornforth and Jane Morris. Siddal, best known as the model-in-the-bath for Millais's Ophelia, isn't represented with a major painting, but there are two striking oils of Cornforth, who moved into Rossetti's Chelsea home as housekeeper soon after Siddal's death. 

The Blue Bower shows Fanny, flowing red locks, markedly large neck, giving a come-hither look as she plays an oriental instrument. It's another picture packed with overwhelming detail and colour, in the background, the passion flowers, the textiles, and the positioning of the hands. 

Hands rarely seem to be still in these Rossetti paintings. As Aurelia (Fazio's Mistress), Cornforth plaits her hair as she contemplates her beauty in an unseen mirror in a painting that pays homage to Titian. Rossetti described it as "chiefly a piece of colour".  

But Rossetti could portray Cornforth more intimately, in a less idealised fashion too, and that's shown in this chalk study. Clearly softer, less overblown, making Fanny appear more a person, less an object.

Unfortunately, we don't get to see the actual painting, Fair Rosamund from the National Museum Wales, that this drawing was worked up into. It's only visible from a small photograph but seems to illustrate how Rossetti made his subjects more impersonal between study and finished work. The two faces of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, you might say.

If there's one actual painting in this show that you really could characterise as a formal portrait, it's this one of Jane Morris, the wife of William Morris, with whom Rossetti was obsessed in his later years. The Blue Silk Dress of the title is striking enough, but those twisted hands appear indicative of some inner torment. Their relationship was to lead to significant stress for both of them a decade later. 

A series of photographs taken in the mid-1860s shows how Rossetti and Jane experimented with poses that broke the rules of 19th-century decorum and emphasised Morris's sinuous posture (she also suffered from a lot of back pain), 

If you're a Rossetti fan, you'll be keen to see this show, but do be warned that it's quite a small exhibition and you'll be round comfortably in 30-45 minutes. The oils are sumptuous, the portraits on paper are very interesting, but in restaurant-meal terms, it's perhaps more a couple of delectable small plates than a full main course. 

While you're at the Holburne

There's more on the menu at the museum, however. As well as a show of Sunil Gupta's photographs inspired by the Pre-Raphs, just across the landing is a fine collection of 18th-century British portraiture, featuring George Stubbs, Johann Zoffany, Allan Ramsay and Thomas Gainsborough, who spent 16 years in Bath. The Gainsboroughs include the splendid William Wollaston, MP. Among the museum's other displays are ceramics and an eclectic mix of art, antiques and curios assembled by Sir William Holburne in the 19th century.  

Practicalities

Rossetti's Portraits runs at the Holburne Museum in Bath until January 9. The museum is open daily from 1000 (Sundays and bank holidays from 1100) to 1700. Full-price tickets are £12.50 including a Gift Aid donation, £11 without, and can be bought online here. The museum is a 15-minute walk from Bath Spa rail station or the bus station next door.

Images

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Monna Vanna, 1866. © Tate, London

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Thomas Woolner, 1852. © National Portrait Gallery, London
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Emma Madox Brown, 1853, National Trust Collections, Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Blue Bower, 1865. © The Henry Barber Trust, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Aurelia (Fazio's Mistress), 1863-73. © Tate, London

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Fanny Cornforth (Study for Fair Rosamund), 1861, The Higgins, Bedford. Photo: The Higgins
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Blue Silk Dress (Jane Morris), 1868. © Society of Antiquaries of London: Kelmscott Manor