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12th May 2020
Born on this day in 1882, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (born Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti) a British poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He’s perhaps remained best known, alongside his art, for co-founding the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood along with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was one of the most influential movements of it’s day and remains not only as an influence in art today but also, as a period in history that remains to describe a whole group of artists united by a set of ideas and a great love of art.
The Brotherhood was founded in 1848 and in it’s second generation, included well known figures on this blog; William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Rossetti was a huge influence for both and was a main reason for their joining the Brotherhood.
He originally wanted to be a poet and went to King’s College School in London, but also had a talent and passion for painting. Hi sister Christina Rossetti did go on to be a poet; you’ll know her from a few of her works I assume, but particularly, “In the Bleak Midwinter.” (It was later set to music into our famous Christmas carol.) Back to Dante, he went on to study at Henry Sass’ Drawing Academy from 1841 – 1845. Then the Antique School of the Royal Academy. He then went on to study under Ford Madox Brown; they had a close lifelong friendship.
To explain the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, we can go ahead and let William Michael Rossetti, Dante’s brother do that for us. He summarised four declarations in an early doctrine as a statement of intent.
One random fact we love about Rossetti that could only (or should we say, should only) be a part of the Victorian era was his eccentric menagerie. He had kangaroos, wallabies, armadillos, a raccoon and larger animals such as a zebu. He even is known to have discussed the potential of having an African elephant with Charles Jamrach. Jamrach was a leading dealer in wildlife, birds and shells in 19th century London. He’s also a fascinating read if you have time. All of this, in a garden in Chelsea!
His wombat is something that’s been well recorded about Rossetti, seemingly because of his affection for it. In writing to his brother he described it as, “a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness.” He named it “Top” after Morris who had the nickname, “Topsy.” Rather horribly, Top didn’t live long in England and died November 1869, after which, Rossetti had him stuffed and he was displayed in the entrance to the house. We mention the poor animal’s death because Rossetti’s self portrait mourning Top is a hugely famous piece of Rossetti’s work.
In 1860, he married Elizabeth Siddal (Lizzie) who was a Pre-Raphaelite model and one of his favourite muses. He even banned any other artists from using her as their model. She passed away in 1862 from an overdose of laudanum and afterwards, Rossetti increasingly spiralled into depression. Rossetti is well known for having a long lasting affair with Jane Morris – William Morris’s wife. This obviously caused great pain to Morris.
He held great influence within the artistic circles of the time. He remains a great influence amongst both artists and writers today. He was pioneering in his ideals, there’s just too much about him to fit into one blog! There was no shortage of eccentricities in his life and we encourage you to read more into his life and menagerie; it always really captures our imagination to think of the Victorian menageries, does it you?
Posted in News by Laura
Do you have a fave out of these beautiful William Morris florals? 🌿 We could never pick just one 🪻
Designs top row; Willow Bough Green & Golden Lily
Designs bottom row; Pimpernel Cream, Pimpernel Green & Compton ✨
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Our William Morris florals Daisy and Willow Bough Green expertly modelled by Bertie during his weekend away to the beautiful @castle_howard - he enjoyed wearing a floral cravatte and bow tie pretending to be a Bridgerton (the bow tie did indeed end up being a bow on the top of his head after one too many sniffs 😂🎀)
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#labrador #blacklab #williammorris #williammorrisfabric #daisy #willowbough #floralfabric #motorhomelife #motorhome #castlehoward #bridgerton
Inspired by nature and designed by William Morris, aren’t they all just such beautifully timeless designs 🫶🏻
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Back in stock alert! 🫧 A firm favourite for many, we absolutely love William Morris Brother Rabbit design, don’t you? 🫶🏻 If you’d like a sample, just send us a message 💌
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Did you know all our fabric is printed in the UK and all our products manufactured in the UK too? 🫶🏻 As a small business ourselves, it’s important to us to celebrate and support independent businesses and we love how many incredible businesses use our fabrics for their own products! 🩷
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Bertie is celebrating national dog day in (floral) style on his new little car bed we made, with matching Sweet Briar accessories of course 🥰 If you’re wanting to know how we made this to fit our car, let us know, we’re always happy to write a blog on our craft bits! 🫶🏻
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Calling all quilters! 🫧 Our 100% cotton fat quarters are now available individually on our website! In all our licensed William Morris designs, they are incredible for quilts 🪡 If you order four, you get one free, so please message us to choose the design of your free fat quarter 🫶🏻
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Missing peony season ✨ We’re loving layering Willow Bough blue and green together at the moment, don’t they look so good together 🤍
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We hope everyone’s enjoyed a beautifully sunny weekend ☀️ Bertie enjoyed wearing some Morris florals in the sun ⛱️ For our tutorial on how to make a dog bandana, check out our blog! 🥰
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Did you know that in Japan where our projects are sold, our tea towels are used not only for being functional but for decoration - we love that they’re framed, or laid on the table as a centrepiece to be admired or hung as a draped item to bring some nature indoors 🌿 we thought we’d do the same by using the tea towel as a centrepiece for a simple cup of tea and very delicious piece of cake! 🍰
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With so many timeless designs and writings, we think Morris achieved his aim, don’t you? 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #design #willowbough #quoteoftheday #quoteoftheday #quotestoliveby #preraphaelites #preraphaeliteart
Lazy Sunday mornings 💤 our William Morris Strawberry Thief tablecloths are now back in stock in all sizes if you fancy adding some floral magic to your table ✨ Hope you all have a lovely Sunday! 🩷
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #strawberythief #victorianartist #victorian #preraphaelite #preraphaeliteart #morris
A beautiful day on the beach; we had to take our incredible small Compton tote bag to carry a certain someone’s special treats that we got from the lovely @nationaltrust shop, can you tell he was very happy with them! 😂🫶🏻
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We’re going to have to look at this English summer through our rose coloured specs we think and set the table summery despite the rain!☔️🩷 We thought this made the perfect table setting; a bouquet with blooms out the garden wrapped in a Daisy napkin cone, doesn’t it look great! 🫶🏻 We’re going to put a small bunch at everyone’s seat and then they can take them home to enjoy at their houses 🌿
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✨ It’s the last day for 20% off our whole website! ✨ Use code: floralsummer at checkout on our website today only! 🫶🏻
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We’re thinking of selling our William Morris Daisy fabric by the half metre 🫶🏻 It’s a much narrower fabric than our usual fabrics, but we’ve had some customers interested in it in cotton and heavyweight for projects such as upholstery, curtain and dress making and quilting projects, what do you all think? ✨🌿
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✨✨ Offer extended ✨✨ We forgot to give you warning that our 20% off code was expiring and we thought it would brighten up some rainy July days, so now until the 14th July, take 20% off our website using code: FLORALSUMMER ☂️
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Always learning new napkin folds- anyone fancy a tutorial on how to make this little cutlery napkin jacket? 🍴🫶🏻 We’ve been using Willow Bough green and blue together on the table lately and we LOVE them together! 🌿 what do you think? Would you put them together on your table? ☺️
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#willowbough #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #williammorris #williammorrisprint #florals #peony #peonyseason #tablescape #napkinfolding #napkinholder #tabledecor
These blooms 😍 We absolutely adore this design Charlotte Rose, it’s from our French archive that we lovingly restored to its former glory and bring out all year round for on the table- we paired it here with our Willow Bough green tablecloth and the greens and pinks go together so well 🫶🏻
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#frenchdesign #frenchfloral #frenchdesign #charlotterose #florals #tablescape #tabledecor #williammorrisdesign #williammorris #willowbough
Cut this wonderful fabric stack yesterday 🫶🏻 All these beautiful Morris florals together in our heavyweight fabrics 🪡🧵
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