Portrait of William Michael Rossetti (c. 1853): Art, History and Details

Portrait of William Michael Rossetti (c. 1853) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Christina Georgina Rossetti (British, 1830–1894).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The youngest of four children in the artistic Rossetti family, Christina Rossetti lived on the periphery of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, occasionally modeling for her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and submitting her poetry to the brotherhood’s journal, The Germ. Before achieving acclaim as a poet with works such as Goblin Market and Monna Innominata, she briefly considered pursuing a career as an artist. This portrait of her brother William is one of her few surviving drawings. In the spare profile, the figure’s eyes are downcast, as though reading or in private reverie, perhaps in reference to William’s work as a man of letters.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of William Michael Rossetti
• Date: c. 1853
• Creator attribution: Christina Georgina Rossetti (British, 1830–1894)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: graphite
• Dimensions: Sheet: 17.9 x 12.8 cm (7 1/16 x 5 1/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - British
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2010.462

A detail from the museum

Christina and William Rossetti shared a strong emotional bond. Employed as a civil servant, William provided financial stability that allowed Christina to pursue poetry.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lemonedes, Heather. British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.