Fortification

Rossetti had a lasting appeal for the artists of the 1890s. Charles Ricketts, Charles Shannon and their circle at the Vale were devotees of Rossetti – they collected his work and illustrations of it, paid homage to him in their own pictures and publications. They visited Fanny Cornforth and also Rossetti’s grave. This lecture will focus on this fascination with Rossetti, and raise questions about his enduring importance for the next generation.

Anna Gruetzner-Robins is Professor Emerita at the Univeristy of Reading where she taught History of Art. She has published widely on Degas, Sickert and Whistler including Walter Richard Sickert: The Complete Writings on Art, 2000; Degas, Sickert and Toluouse‐Lautrec, (with Richard Thomson), 2005; and A Fragile Moderism: Whistler and his Impressionist Followers, 2007. She is currently completing a book about the 1890s