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Call Number:
MSS 47
Creator:
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 1828-1882
Title(s):
Dante Gabriel Rossetti letter to Ellen Heaton
Date:
1855 November 24
Classification:
Archives and Manuscripts
Part of Collection:
Box 1, folder 55.57
Provenance:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, The material passed from Ellen Heaton to her nephew John Heaton, and subsequently to his brother Beresford Heaton, then to Katherine Ogilvy Heaton, and finally to Elizabeth Maud Sackville Robertson. Sold at auction, Christie, Manson & Woods, July 16, 1969 (see catalog entry no. 117).
Conditions Governing Access:
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use:
The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Archives Department.
Scope and Content:
Rossetti explains that he has been in Paris for the past ten days and so only just received Heaton's latest letter. Rossetti has heard from Ruskin that Heaton would prefer keeping the drawing from the <title>Purgatorio of Rachel and Leah</title>, or <title>Matilda and Beatrice</title>. Rossetti remarks that he has given Matilda and Beatrice the actions of Rachel and Leah and describes the two figures as "of an entirely Oriental character, as the real Rachel and Leah would be." Rossetti thanks Heaton for her second commission and tells her that he did not expect to be in Paris so long or her would have arranged to have his letters forwarded to him there. Rossetti thinks that the Exhibition of Pictures "does us [the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood?] credit" and praises the merits of exhibited works by Millais, Hunt and "Lewis and Leslie." Rossetti compliments the work of Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Kraus (Georg Melchior Kraus?). Rossetti admits that, like Heaton, he wishes Ruskin had attended the exhibition. Rossetti says he spent much of his time in Paris with the Brownings and passes on their kind regards to Heaton. Rossetti describes Robert Browning's "Men and Women" as "a glorious book."
Additional Notes:
With envelope. Addressed from 14 Chatham Place, Blackfriars.
Physical Description:
1 folded sheet (4 pages) : autogrpah letter signed ; 17 x 21 cm, folded to 17 x 10 cm
Genre:
Correspondence
Subject Terms:
Art
Art appreciation
Collectors and collecting
Painters
Painting, British
Photography
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 1828-1882. Dante's vision of Rachel and Leah
Subject Period:
19th century
Associated Places:
Great Britain
Associated People/Groups:
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806-1861
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
Heaton, Ellen, 1816-1894
Hunt, William Holman, 1827-1910
Leslie, George Dunlop, 1835-1921
Lewis, John Frederick, 1804-1876
Millais, John Everett, 1829-1896
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 1828-1882
Ruskin, John, 1819-1900
Finding Aid Title:
Dante Gabriel Rossetti Letters to Ellen Heaton
Collection PDF:
https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/5859.pdf
Archival Object:
https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/2369944
Metadata Cloud URL:
https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/2369944?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1