Drawing

1861

Founding partner of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.

In 1861 Rossetti, together with Morris, Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, Philip Webb, Charles Faulkner and Peter Paul Marshall, became a founding partner of the decorative arts firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., contributing designs for stained glass and other decorative objects.

1861

“The Early Italian Poets”: translations including Dante

In 1861 “The Early Italian Poets” was published, including Dante’s “La Vita Nuova”: Rossetti had worked on translations of Italian poetry for many years.

May 1861

A stillborn child

In May 1861 Elizabeth gave birth to a stillborn child; her health was finally broken and she began to take laudanum in large quantities.

11 February 1862

Death of Elizabeth Siddal and his manuscripts in her grave

On 11 February 1862, two years after the wedding, Elizabeth Siddal died of an overdose of laudanum, the alcoholic tincture of opium; Rossetti sank ever deeper into depression and, when she was buried at Highgate Cemetery, interred the bulk of his unpublished poems with her, though he later had them dug up.

1862–1866

Designing his sister Christina’s books

With his sister, the poet Christina Rossetti, Dante Gabriel designed and illustrated the first edition of “Goblin Market” (1862) and “The Prince’s Progress” (1866); his key bindings were designed between 1861 and 1871.

1862–1882

A Tudor house at 16 Cheyne Walk

After his wife’s death Rossetti leased a Tudor house at 16 Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, where he lived for twenty years surrounded by extravagant furnishings and a parade of exotic birds and animals.