DG Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown : Correspondence

Ford Madox Brown by DG Rossetti -

Ford Madox Brown, a fellow  Pre-Raphaelite artist,  became a  life long friend to Rossetti after becoming his tutor circa 1848.  Rossetti's letters to him and Brown's  diaries  provide a marvellous source of  detail on Rossetti and Lizzie's personalities and their  turbulent relationship . Brown's second wife, Emma Hill, was particularly close to Lizzie; some accounts suggesting they may have been related.  Rossetti often blamed Emma for sharing gossip about him to " Guggum "- his pet name for Lizzie - as Brown's diary entry shows:

Emma went into town with Miss Siddal before Rossetti was come in from his room
at the Queen's Head, so that when he did come his rage knew no bounds 
at being done out of the society of Guggum, and vented itself in abuse of Emma, who "

 was always trying to persuade Miss Sid that he was plaguing her, 11 &c. &c., whereas
of course Miss Sid liked it as much as he did, &c. &c. ... I did not know whether to laugh 
most or to be angry, so did both, laughed at him and damned him, and at length thought 

it best to tell him where he could find them, (1855)

 

Brown and his wife Emma provided a constant  source of support and comfort to both Rossetti and Lizzie during the turmoil of their relationship and beyond. Always lending him "tin"( money), Brown  at one stage even gave Rossetti £10 to buy a marriage licence to marry Lizzie. 

It was  to Brown that Rossetti rushed after returning home to find  Lizzie unconscious after a laudanum overdose in 1862. The families remained close with Brown's daughter Lucy marrying Rossetti's brother William.


July 1854

Rossetti's ( then) sociable and gregarious nature very evident in this invitation. 

DG Rossetti - Self Portrait 1847

29th July, 1854
Dear Brown
Are you never in town?
I should have come down
But it costs half a crown.
(At least if it don't
The rhyme must account.)
And not painting anything
My work don't a penny bring.
I'm glad that old White* 
Seems abating his spite,
Perhaps he's not quite
Such a “gory” old wight;
So as yet let us hope
That instead of a rope
The worthy old scoundrel
May retain his all-round-gill.
But as to his doings
And jawings and jewings,
William brought me the news,
And he's far from diffuse.
So I wish you'd look in
When you come up for tin
(Or with ticker to spout it)
And tell us all about it.
And if from these cads
You've superfluous brads,
To my crib you may lug 'em,
( Dear Lizzy's a Guggum.)
Where limited bread
You shall find, & a bed,
Or for tea we will ring
If to get it you'll bring
A bob or a tizzy.
( What a Guggum is Lizzy!)
If you come though, don't hollor
At my evident squalor,
Nor cut me and run
At the sight of the dun,
Nor make for the door
At the sound of the bore,
Nor suppose that the landlord
With lodging will stand board,
Nor as to my picture
Throw out any conjecture.
So now if you come
To where ego sum,
You know the condition
( Dear Lizzy's a pigeon.)
And now don't be witty
Upon DG Rossetti

(*a local picture dealer)


April 1860

From mid 1858 to 1860 Rossetti and Lizzie appear to have been estranged , and had barely any contact with each other. Through John Ruskin, Rossetti was informed that she was seriously ill in Hastings and he rushed to her side.  His distress very evident in this letter to Brown (as is his intention to  now marry Lizzie).

12 EAST PARADE, HASTINGS. 

22 April 1860. 

MY DEAR BROWN, 

... I have been, almost without respite, since I saw you, 

in the most agonizing  anxiety about poor dear Lizzie^s health.

Indeed it has been that kind of pain which one can never 

remember at its full, as she has seemed ready to die daily

and more than once a day. It has needed all my own strength 

to nurse her through this dreadful attack. Since yesterday

there has certainly been a reaction for the better. 

She has been able to get up and come down stairs, and eats 

just now though not much without bringing up her food which she 

has done till now, generally a few minutes after swallowing it. 

At the same time, this improvement is so sudden and unaccountable 

that one fears to put full trust in it, but can only hope and wait.

At any rate, it makes me feel as if I had been dug out of a 

vault, so many  times lately has it seemed to me that she could 

never lift her head again. I write you this, but there is no need of

repeating it at full, as it is such dreadful news at this moment.

Emma made a kind offer of coming here when I last saw her, but Lizzy 

I find prefers being alone with me, and indeed it would be too painful

for any one to witness. I assure you it has been almost too much

for me. 

I may possibly be in London for a few hours to-morrow or next day, 

but hardly long enough to see any friends, and of course I shall not

come away at all unless she seems safe for a time. I had wished to 

snatch a few days  work in London before our marriage, but this 

seems daily more impossible indeed it  hardly seems as if I should 

ever work again. 

Yours affectionately, 

D. G. ROSSETTI. 

May 1860

A more cheerful letter written on the day of the wedding

23 May 1860.
DEAR BROWN, 

All hail from Lizzie and myself just back from church. 
I am sorry I cannot give you any good news of her health,
but we must hope for the best. We go to Folkestone this afternoon if 
possible with a view to spending a week or so in Paris, and, if we
stay long enough there, I hope *Ned and Georgie will join us. ... 

Yours affectionately, 

D. G. ROSSETTI. 

If you are still with **Top, as Ned told me you were, best love to the
Topsies. The Towers of Topsy must darken the air by this. 

*Edward and Georgiana Burne-Jones

** nickname for William Morris