DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61290#0084
DANTE ROSSETTI
60
of Keats, appears to have taken the form of a
cyclographic society, in which the dominant
spirits—Rossetti, Millais, and Holman Hunt-
were soon surrounded by a group of more or less
gifted companions and friends. The members
were pledged to contribute original drawings in
regular succession to a portfolio which was passed
round for criticism by their fellows. Rossetti, who
liked to rule his little kingdom with an absolute
o
sway, seldom disputed by those who deemed sub-
mission to his imperious ways but a small price to
pay for his friendship, selected from Keats’s “ Isa-
bella” the following series of subjects to exercise
the talents of the society :—i. “ The Lovers ; ” 2.
“The Brothers” (of Isabella); 3. “Good-bye,”
(the parting of Isabella and Lorenzo); 4. “The
Vision” (Isabella sees in a dream the murder of
her lover by her brother); 5. “The Wood”
(Isabella visits the scene of the crime and secretly
bears away the head of her lover) ; 6. “The Pot
of Basil ” (she buries the head in her flower-pot) ;
7. “The Brothers discover the Pot;” 8. “Mad-
ness of Isabella.”
It does not appear that any member executed
this exhaustive series of proposed sketches in its
entirety. The suggestion of subjects from Shelley’s
“Prometheus Unbound” seems to have been no
less barren of results. The only drawings from
Rossetti’s hand that remain to us from that port-
60
of Keats, appears to have taken the form of a
cyclographic society, in which the dominant
spirits—Rossetti, Millais, and Holman Hunt-
were soon surrounded by a group of more or less
gifted companions and friends. The members
were pledged to contribute original drawings in
regular succession to a portfolio which was passed
round for criticism by their fellows. Rossetti, who
liked to rule his little kingdom with an absolute
o
sway, seldom disputed by those who deemed sub-
mission to his imperious ways but a small price to
pay for his friendship, selected from Keats’s “ Isa-
bella” the following series of subjects to exercise
the talents of the society :—i. “ The Lovers ; ” 2.
“The Brothers” (of Isabella); 3. “Good-bye,”
(the parting of Isabella and Lorenzo); 4. “The
Vision” (Isabella sees in a dream the murder of
her lover by her brother); 5. “The Wood”
(Isabella visits the scene of the crime and secretly
bears away the head of her lover) ; 6. “The Pot
of Basil ” (she buries the head in her flower-pot) ;
7. “The Brothers discover the Pot;” 8. “Mad-
ness of Isabella.”
It does not appear that any member executed
this exhaustive series of proposed sketches in its
entirety. The suggestion of subjects from Shelley’s
“Prometheus Unbound” seems to have been no
less barren of results. The only drawings from
Rossetti’s hand that remain to us from that port-