Christina Georgina Rossetti

ROSSETTI, Christina Georgina. b. London, 5 December 1830; d. London, 29 December 1894. She was the daughter of Italian parents: her father became Professor of Italian at King’s College, London, and Christina was educated at home, growing up in a cultured and artistic family. Two of her brothers, Dante Gabriel and William Michael, became members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of seven painters in 1849, and she was associated with the movement, though never permitted to be a member of it because she was a woman. Throughout her life she suffered intermittently from poor health. She was a devout Anglican, and rejected one suitor, James Collinson, because he was a Roman Catholic. She...