Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 1828-1882. Dante’s dream at the time of the death of Beatrice

Scope and Contents: Rossetti accepts Heaton's commission but asks whether, if he is unable to find complementary Dante subjects for two different works, he could produce one, larger work for no more than 40 guineas. Rossetti says he has already drawn a number of small Dante subjects and is worried he might not find new inspiration from Dante for small works. Rossetti describes works in progress depicting Dante and Beatrice, saying "they would execute well ... in water colour." Rossetti remarks that he has known...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti tells Heaton that he is happy to make any changes she wishes to her commissioned drawing (Rachel and Leah) and instructs her on how to send it back to him. Rossetti admits he received Heaton's papers from Leeds but that he hadn't wanted to reply until he had some further information regarding her commission. Rossetti explains that he is more than half way towards completing a work depicting Dante's dream of Beatrice lying dead. He mentions that Ruskin has...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti thanks Heaton for £30 she has sent him towards her commissioned drawing(s) worth 40 or 50 guineas. He assures her that he needed the money otherwise he would not have petitioned Ruskin to ask her for an advance. Rossetti describes ideas he has for drawings, including one of the Virgin Mary in the house of St. John after the crucifixion, stating that the motto on the frame could be "A little while and ye shall not see me, and again a little while ye shall see me." He describes the...

Scope and Contents: "The drawing has been to Oxford, and is just back -- I suspect unfortunately without catching Mr. Ruskin. Will fix a day and hour most suitable to you after Monday, when you can see it. If equally pleasing to you, I would like to keep it by me a few days yet, that one or two friends may see it." In a postscript, Rossetti asks if the time Heaton choses is unsuitable for him whether he might be able to suggest another time. Rossetti tells Heaton that, although she would like to see his work,...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti apologizes for the delay in sending Heaton's drawing which he has now sent along with a sketch of Dante. He has sent the Rachel and Leah case as it reached him, with a broken lid. He says he has a case for the Dante which was not made for it bespoke but which was created by Ruskin's frame maker. Rossetti thinks the case may have been sent to Ruskin's address in Oxford. Rossetti says he hopes he will have the St. John sketch ready...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti asks Heaton to loan him her drawing of Dante's Dream as he wishes to begin an oil painting on the same subject. He promises he will only ask for it once he is able to start the work immediately and will return it, along with an additional sketch, once the oil work has been started. Rossetti admits that he has not being doing much work with regards to The Beloved and that he will notify Heaton as soon as he does. Rossetti says he...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti admits he still does not know exactly when he will need Dante's Dream but that it is likely he will require it before the end of the month. He says he will write as soon as he knows the exact time. Rossetti is perturbed by Heaton's reports of changes in his drawing and hopes that they are a result of the positioning of the pieces or how Heaton is looking at them. He says the "darkened" white in the St George should be...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti expresses his happiness that Heaton's "charming class of critics" like his work and says he is happy to show any of them his studio. Rossetti says he has heard from Ruskin, who is en route to England. Rossetti is making two Dante drawings for Lady Ashburton, jointly titled The salutation of Beatrice, which are similarly composed to works Rossetti showed Heaton in oil. These works are in watercolor. Rossetti describes a piece he is currently...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti tells Heaton he will return the Bethlehem Gate piece she has sent to him as he cannot detect "any alteration whatever" in the work. Rossetti similarly finds Dante's dream unchanged but says he knows how he can revise it and greatly improve it. He states he can heighten its colour and removed the "stiffness, smallness of execution" in the work but that it would take a week or a fortnight to change and could...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti says he has not made any alterations to Dante's dream except to make Dante's feet smaller, "they being (I know not by what hallucination on my part) of the canoe class in shape and size." Rossetti agrees it is better to remain unchanged. Rossetti has not yet used the picture and asks if Heaton will allow him to keep it a little longer, especially as she intends to "defer its return ... for a much less important object -- namely its loan to...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti has received an offer for The beloved and asks Heaton if she is no longer interested in the work. He says he has done no further work to the piece but has extended his plans for it so he can no longer paint it for 200 guineas, the price he first named for Heaton. Rossetti asks if he could paint her something else and says he has not forgotten the £50 she has given him for a painting of Beatrice. Rossetti has found a partly completed picture of his wife in...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti tells Heaton that her Dante's dream was taken by Ruskin on the day prior to his father's death, in order for Ruskin to photograph it. He assures her that nothing has been altered in the piece. Rossetti says that he will be glad to see her when she is in London and expresses his approval of Ruskin possibly lecturing in Bradford. Rossetti still has Heaton's Bethlehem Gate and supposes that she will collect it when in London. He...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti is having his mother and sister for dinner the following day and hopes Heaton will attend. Rossetti has been so busy that he has not made any changes to Bethlehem Gate but says that if it is not retouched by dinner, it will be by Monday (the 16th). Rossetti expresses his annoyance about the photograph (presumably the one of Dante's dream to be taken by Ruskin). Rossetti tells Heaton that his pencil drawing for her will be framed...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti tells Heaton he does not believe that Dante's dream would have been damaged in transportation and says that the delay in sending it was a result of the necessity of copying it and the difficulties in mounting it. Rossetti has begun copying the pencil drawing in red chalk which he thinks will be an improvement. He believes the piece and Bethlehem Gate will leave for Leeds on Thursday (the 19th). He tells Heaton that she can visit...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti asks Heaton to visit him on Friday at 4 pm or after, or on Saturday at 12 noon or 1 pm to see her Sir Galahad drawing. He reasserts the price of the piece as 100 guineas and asks Heaton if he could have £55 when she visits as he is "obliged to go out of town on Saturday for a day of two, to avoid a summons on the Grand Jury (!)" Rossetti says his Joan of Arc is nearly complete and hopes that Heaton will enjoy the ...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti tells Heaton that it is "against [his] interests" to exhibit his work at present, unless it is work "of great importance." "I hold a fortunate position at present in possessing a market unassailable by incompetence, ill-will, or to put it in its mildest and frequently true form, by mere diversity of taste. You will greatly oblige me therefore by declining to send anything of mine; and indeed I have lately made the stipulation, when parting with works, that...

Scope and Contents: Rossetti acknowledges Heaton's hesitance to lend him Dante's dream in their previous correspondence (see letter dated 9 January 1868) because she wanted to show it to visitors at the Leeds Exhibition. As the exhibition is now finished, Rossetti asks if she will now loan him the work. Rossetti says he would have needed it before now but he recently had to suspend all his work due to the "troublesome state of [his] eyesight". Now that he is working again,...

Scope and Contents: Ruskin tells Heaton he will be glad for the loan of her Rossetti watercolor Dante's Dream after the Brownings (to whom Heaton was currently loaning the work) leave for Florence. Ruskin asks to borrow Turner's Castle St Angelo from Heaton as "there is more in these vignettes than I thought." Ruskin tells Heaton that, inspired by Heaton, he has bought two Turner vignettes. Ruskin debates the benefits of exhibiting at the Colnaghi...

Scope and Contents: "I carried off the Dream (Rossetti's Dante's Dream) from Chelsea only two day's before my father's death; so that my promise to Rossetti to photograph it was ... roughly hindered -- I shall be glad that you undertake it -- as I was afraid to take it out of the frame -- you shall have it in a week -- and never let it out of your power more" (Ruskin's father died 3 March 1864 and this letter has a mourning border.) Ruskin goes on to thank Heaton for her...