DG Rossetti: A Brief Biography
was subject to severe mood swings and became virtually reclusive.
He continued to work, producing ‘Astarte Syriaca’, ‘the Blessed Damozel’, and ‘A Sea-spell’. In the spring of 1881, he republished his poetry in two volumes, including pomes that he had written since 1870. Unfortunately, his health further deteriorated and, by November, he was bed-ridden. He suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed; he died on Easter Sunday 1882, of Bright’s disease.
It may be said that Rossetti’s depiction of ethereal and surreal women reflects his troubled relationships with both Elizabeth Siddal and Jane Morris. As David Rodgers points out, Rossetti was a man of many paradoxes. He was of Italian heritage, yet was ‘chauvinistically English’, he extolled the virtues of platonic love, yet he was a notorious womaniser; he was outgoing and friendly, yet become depressed and reclusive in middle-age (5). However one may attempt to define Rossetti’s character, his work, both on the canvas and on the printed page, remains the product of these paradoxes.
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