William and Lucy

The marriage of William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919) and Lucy Madox Brown (1843-1894) united two of the most resonant Pre-Raphaelite family names. Their passionate and ultimately tragic relationship provides a fresh perspective on 19th-century marriage and on the private lives of eminent Victorians. Sibling of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti, William was one of the original Pre-Raphaelite "Brothers", a Bohemian, radical author, poet, critic, artist, connoisseur, biographer, historian and taxman. Lucy, the intense, intellectual daughter of Ford Madox Brown, was an ambitious artist and biographer of Mary Shelley in spite of struggling with tuberculosis for nearly a decade. Drawing on hundreds of previously unpublished sources and a wealth of visual material (including art by William, Lucy and others of their circle and striking contemporary photographs), the book follows William and Lucy through their separate professional careers, marriage, continental travels and Lucy's illness and death. At the crossover between art history, literary criticism, social history and biography, the book rewrites Pre-Raphaelite history and brings to life two fascinating people who were both of their time and ahead of it.