Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti (19 July 1843 – 12 April 1894) was a British artist, author, and model associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. She was married to the writer and art critic

William Michael Rossetti William Michael Rossetti (25 September 1829 – 5 February 1919) was an English writer and critic. Early life Born in London, Rossetti was a son of immigrant Italian scholar Gabriele Rossetti and his wife Frances Rossetti ''née'' Polidor ...

Early life

Madox Brown was born in Paris in 1843, the daughter of

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painti ...

and Elizabeth Bromley (1819–1846). Her mother died just three years later in 1846, and she was sent to live with her aunt Helen Bromley in Gravesend,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. In 1856 she went to live with the Rossetti household in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and was tutored by her future sister-in-law,

Maria Francesca Rossetti Maria Francesca Rossetti (17 February 1827 – 24 November 1876) was a London-born English author and nun. She was the sister of artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Michael Rossetti, and of Christina Georgina Rossetti, who dedicated her 1 ...

. She visited the Manchester

Art Treasures Exhibition The Art Treasures of Great Britain was an exhibition of fine art held in Manchester, England, from 5 May to 17 October 1857.Catherine Madox Brown described her as "a strange mixture with a violent temper and a strong brain."

Marriage and family

In the summer of 1873 she became engaged to

, and they married on 31 March 1874. William was the son of

Gabriele Rossetti Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti (28 February 1783 – 24 April 1854) was an Italian nobleman, poet, constitutionalist, scholar, and founder of the secret society Carbonari. Rossetti was born in Vasto in the Kingdom of Naples. He was Rom ...

and his wife

Frances Polidori Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, ''later'' Rossetti, of London (27 April 1800 – 8 April 1886), was a scholar, daughter, wife, sister and mother of important writers and artists; she was the governess of her four children. She was also a model of ...

. His siblings were:

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, Dante Gabriel and Christina. They honeymooned in France and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Italy, in April 1874. They attempted to live with William's family but, due to religious differences with Frances and Christina, who were devout Anglo-Catholics, moved out to their own accommodation in Bloomsbury by the end of 1876. Their first child, Olivia Frances Madox, was born in September 1875, and their son, Gabriel Arthur, was born in February 1877, followed by Helen Maria, in November 1879, and twins, Mary Elizabeth and Michael Ford, in April 1881. Michael died in infancy. Lucy and Wiliam, who both were agnostics, did not have their children baptized. The children were schooled at home by their mother and governesses. In 1897, Olivia married an Italian anarchist refugee, Antonio Agresti. They later moved to Italy, where Olivia became a translator and writer. After she was widowed in 1926, she became an associate of Ezra Pound, and the two corresponded frequently. Gabriel Arthur, known as Arthur to the family, became a scientist, married Dora Lewis, and had several children. Helen became a painter of miniatures, and in 1903 married Gastone Angeli. He was in fragile health and died only a few months later. Helen gave birth to his posthumous daughter, Imogen Lucy, in 1904.

Artistic and literary career

She began painting in 1868, and along with her half sister

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

, modelled and worked as an assistant under their father. Other female

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

artists such as

Georgiana Burne-Jones Georgiana, Lady Burne-Jones (Birmingham, 21 July 1840 – 2 February 1920) was a painter and engraver, and the second oldest of the Macdonald sisters. She was married to Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artist Edward Burne-Jones, and was also the mothe ...

, the sister of Thomas Seddon and

Marie Spartali Stillman Marie Stillman (née Spartali) (Greek: Μαρία Σπαρτάλη; 10 March 1844 – 6 March 1927) was a British member of the second generation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Of the Pre-Raphaelites, she had one of the longest-running caree ...

also took lessons in the same studio. Working mainly in watercolours, she exhibited in

Dudley Museum and Art Gallery Dudley Museum and Art Gallery was a public museum and art gallery located in the town centre of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. It was opened in 1883, situated within buildings on St James's Road, and remained at that site until its clos ...

from 1869 to 1872. Her painting, ''The Duet'', which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1870, was described by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as a "perfect picture". She stopped painting in 1874. She wrote the biography of

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...

, ''Mrs. Shelley'', for John Ingram's Eminent Women series and it was published in 1890.

Death

From 1885 she suffered from

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

and went to Italy for her health during the winter. The illness worsened Lucy's temper and brought the permanent rift between her and William. Rossetti was deeply affected by Lucy's alienation: "This change in my relations of affection and home-life is about the most painful thing that could have occurred to me." She died on 12 April 1894 at the Hotel Victoria in

Sanremo Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...

, Italy, in the presence of her husband and her daughter Olivia, and was buried in La Foce Cemetery. Lucy's will left everything to her children, which Dinah Roe suggests was intended to protect them in the event William remarried in the future.

List of works

*''The Duet'', 1870. Exh. RA. *''Romeo and Juliet'', 1870,

Wightwick Manor The legacy of a family's passion for Victorian art and design, Wightwick Manor (pronounced "Wittick") is a Victorian manor house located on Wightwick Bank, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. Owned by the National Trust since 1937, the Mano ...

, Wolverhampton, UK. *Study for ''Romeo and Juliet'', 28 x 33.6 cm, chalk on paper, sold Christie's, London, 28 November 2000, lot 26. *''The Tempest'', c. 1870, oil on canvas, private collection. *''Après le Bal'', 1870, watercolour, private collection. *''The Magic Mirror'', 1872, private collection. *''Margaret Roper Receiving the Head of her Father'' 1873, oil on canvas, St Thomas More, Burford.

Work and portraits

File:Lucy Madox Brown.jpg, Portrait of Lucy Madox Brown by her father,

File:Mathilde Blind.jpg, ''Mathilde Blind'' by Lucy Madox Brown File:LucyMadoxscacchitempesta.jpg, ''The Tempest'' by Lucy Madox Brown File:Lucy Madox Browne, Thombscene.jpg, ''Romeo and Juliet, the thombscene'' File:Lucy Madox Browne, Margaret Roper.jpg, ''Margaret Roper'' File:Lucy Madox Browne, Magic Mirror.jpg, ''Magic Mirror'' File:Brown, Lucy Madox 1843 – 1894.jpg, Signature of Lucy Madox Brown
Reproduction of Portrait
by

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

at the Rossetti Archive.
Portrait
by

at Wightwick Manor, West Midlands.

Exhibitions

'Uncommon Power': Lucy and Catherine Madox Brown at the

Watts Gallery Watts Gallery – Artists' Village is an art gallery in the village of Compton, near Guildford in Surrey. It is dedicated to the work of the Victorian-era painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts. The gallery has been Grade II* listed o ...

28 September 2021 – 20 February 2022.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Lucy Madox 1843 births 1894 deaths 19th-century British women artists 19th-century British women writers 19th-century English painters 19th-century English writers British women painters Polidori-Rossetti family Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists' models Victorian women writers Victorian writers Writers from Paris Artists from Paris British expatriates in Italy British expatriates in France Pre-Raphaelite painters Female Pre-Raphaelite painters