Rossetti's Reputation: A Study of the Dissemination of His Art through Photographs

An attempt to decipher one of the mysteries surrounding the
influence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's art on the continent from
the 1870s on: how did artists obtain access to Rossetti's work,
as he never exhibited his paintings or drawings on the
continent, nor did continental collections have any examples of
his work. Rossetti was particularly interested in photography as
a medium to reproduce works of art, as he was never satisfied by
the way in which his drawings were transformed by professional
wood engravers into finished illustrations. An overview is given
of the photographers Rossetti commissioned to photograph his
work. Concluding remarks by the author: ""For an artist like
Rossetti who exhibited works rarely in Britain, and never on the
continent, it was photography that confirmed his reputation
abroad as an artist, and gave eager viewers some notions of his
themes and technique. The role photography played in
establishing Rossetti's reputation could be repeated many times
over for a number of other 19th century artists on both sides of
the channel.''
Simmons College, Boston
Chairman of the Department of Art and Music


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