Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Given by the artist to Elizabeth Bromley on the occasion of her marriage to Samuel Cooper in 1867 and bequeathed by her upon her death in 1875 to her cousin Lucy Madox Rossetti (daughter of the sitter) and her husband William Michael Rossetti (brother of the artist), by whom bequeathed upon his death in 1919 to his son Gabriel Arthur Rossetti, by whom bequeathed to his son Harold Ford Rossetti and thence by further descent in 1983 to the present owner

London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Pictures, Drawings, Designs and Studies by the Late Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1883, no.114;
London, New Gallery, Pictures Ancient and Modern by Artists of the British and Continental Schools, Including a Special Selection of the Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1897, no.8;
Manchester, City Art Gallery, D.G. Rossetti and Madox Brown: Family Portraits, July 1920, no.8;
Birmingham, City Museum & Art Gallery and Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Pre-Raphaelite Drawing, 2011, no.123

H.C. Marillier, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1899, no.364;
Virginia Surtees, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, A Catalogue Raisonné, 1971, p.158, cat.no.270;
Angela Thirlwell, William and Lucy - The Other Rossettis, 2003, illustrated p.60, fig. 43;
Colin Cruise, Pre-Raphaelite Drawing, 2011,  pp.98,101, illustrated fig. 123

The sheet appears to be sound. Slightly yellowed to the edges, otherwise the work appears in very good overall condition. Held under glass in a gilt wood frame with a grey mount; unexamined out of frame.
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Described by Angela Thirlwell as a 'magnificent drawing' (Angela Thirlwell, William and Lucy - The Other Rossettis, 2003, p.60), this highly sensitive and perceptive portrait demonstrates Rossetti's mastery of pencil. It records the bond of friendship between Rossetti and his closest friend, whose comradeship was sometimes strained but endured until the end - Brown designed Rossetti's monument to mark his grave at Birchington-on-Sea. The eyes convey Brown's formidable intellect but also 'more humour... than in Brown's cooler 1850 self-portrait' (Colin Cruise, Pre-Raphaelite Drawing, 2011, p.98). It is also interesting to compare this portrait of Brown with the more pensive likeness drawn by Rossetti in 1852 (National Portrait Gallery, London).