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Series 1: The "Photographic Portfolio" of Dawings by EES, 1866
Collection Overview
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Scope and Contents
The following 18 sheets of card, each measuring 530 x 365mm, is one of a small group of almost identical sets compiled and captioned by DGR in the winter of 1866-67, when he gave a set to Charles Augustus Howell with an inscribed title page reading "Photographs from designs and sketches by Elizabeth Eleanor Rossetti given to Charles A. Howell by his friend D. G. Rossetti 18 January 1867." This was later acquired by C. Fairfax Murray and given to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, in 1916.
Marsh 1989 writes specifically about this portfolio: "[DGR] did succeed, however, in recording a large part of Elizabeth's work as an artist. In 1866 he arranged for her surviving drawings and sketches to be photographed, printed and pasted into folio volumes as a memorial of her art. At least four of these portfolios were compiled and distributed to friends; some survive, complete or in bits, others may have disappeared over the years. The glass negatives for the photographs were preserved, apparently by chance, since little value seems to have been placed on them, but most have never been reprinted. Into the portfolios were pasted two drawings by Rossetti himself, to represent the artist in the absence of a portrait photograph" (p. 13). Marsh further notes that she knows of only two such portfolios, that in the Fitzwilliam and one in the Ashmolean (where the glass negatives are also held).
Close comparison with the Howell-Murray set (now bound as an album) at the Fitzwilliam shows the present set to almost identical, bar a few accidental variants inevitable in such compilations: it is likewise on 18 sheets of the same size card, and has the same captions and same arrangement in all by a very few particulars. The set at the Ashmolean, bequeathed by John Bryson in 1967, although not substantially different in content, is differently arranged and lacks a few of the photographs present here. There are 15 sheets of card, without the portrait drawings and without two of the photographs on sheet 4, one on sheet 8, and two on sheet 13. The card size is the same, however, and it may be that this represents a first attempt to make a record of Siddal's drawings.
The Bryson set also has no title page, but it is accompanied by a further group of mounted photographs, not so numerous and on larger card, which carry notes on the verso in the hand of WMR. Given that the glass negatives came with the set, it seems very possible that this is DGR's own set of the portfolio, inherited by WMR (the family archivist) on his death.
Besides the copy given to Howell, one was sent to William Allingham, who recorded its arrival in his Diary for 9 November 1866: "On my return find a parcel by rail from Gabriel containing a portfolio of photographs from drawings by his poor wife; they are naturally full of his influence. Also of two very beautiful pencil portraits of her by his hand, one a head, the other full-length. Short, sad and strange her life; it must have seemed to her like a troubled dream. She was sweet, gentle, and kindly, and sympathetic to art and poetry. As to art-power, it is not easy to make as much as a guess; and the portfolio hardly helps. But it is very interesting, at least to those who knew her. Her pale face, abundant red hair, and long thin limbs were strange and affecting -- never beautiful to my eyes" (Allingham 1907, p. 144). A footnote states that the portfolio was then still in the possession of Allingham's widow Helen.
Marsh 1991 comments that one may have been sent to Swinburne, too, but there is no trace of that copy, nor are the present whereabouts of the Allingham set known.
It seems clear from the context that this set, although without a title page like that in the Howell-Murray set, must have been given by DGR to Henry and Emily Virtue Tebbs, probably at the same time. The captions and the photographs here are, with a very few exceptions, exactly the same -- the only variants are those which are likely to be found in such copies -- and I assume that these two sets, at least, were made at the same time.
It is clear that only a very small number of copies were made, each personally compiled and annotated by D.G. Rossetti himself, in the winter of 1866-67. When he was seeking to reunite her watercolors in 1869, he wrote to Charles Eliot Norton sending him a photograph of Pippa Passes (see sheet nos. 2 and 19), and commenting "I have had all her scraps and scrawls in ink photographed" (WMR, Rossetti Papers 1862-1870, 1907, p. 437). (Presumably in this he was including all the pencil drawings as well.) Copies of the Portfolio are of importance because they record a number of drawings by EES which have since been lost, but they are also of significance as a memorial to Rossetti's love for his dead wife -- one of the great artistic tragedies of the 19th century.
- Arrangement
Arrangement has no apparent organization scheme.
Collection History
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by John Delaney in April 2005. The finding aid is based on earlier work done by Christopher Edwards in 2005.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is available for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
- Credit this material:
Series 1: The "Photographic Portfolio" of Dawings by EES; H. V. Tebbs Collection of Pre-Raphaelite Photographs, C0988, Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box 1
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- Bibliography
Abbreviations used in this finding aid: Allingham 1907: William Allingham. A Diary, ed. H. Allingham &D. Radford (1907) Fredeman 2004: Correspondence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, ed. W. Fredeman, vol. IV (2004) Marsh 1989: Jan Marsh. The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal (1989) Marsh 1991: Jan Marsh. Elizabeth Siddal, Pre-Raphaelite Artist: catalogue of an exhibition at the Ruskin Gallery, Sheffield, 1991 Surtees 1971: V. Surtees. Paintings and Drawings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Oxford, 1971)
- Names:
- Hollyer, Frederick (1837-1933)
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1828-1882)
Siddall, Elizabeth