Rossetti's Portraits at The Holburne Museum

 This lovely exhibition at the top of the Holburne Museum is well worth seeing., it is apparently the first one dedicated to Dante Gabriel Rossetti's portraits. Among the stars of the show are The Blue Bower painted in 1865 showing Fanny Cornforth.

It's a stunning painting, I think my favourite, the text with it explains the painting well. I love the expression on her face, the passion flowers surrounding her, and the colour of her jacket complementing her hair so well.

There is this beautiful drawing of Fanny Cornforth with another great panel about the drawing

It seems as though Rossetti, though portraiture, had access to many beautiful women to whom he felt great affection.

The Bocca Baciata- literally 'mouth that has been kissed' painting can be found in Boston, and fortunately a photo can be seen below seen below, an amazing portrait. According to an Italian proverb,

‘The mouth that has been kissed does not lose its good fortune:
rather, it renews itself just as the moon does.’

Finally I picked out this drawing of Thomas Woolner 1825-1892 . Thomas was one of the pre Raphaelite Brotherhood who in 1852 when this was drawn was about to emigrate to Australia. 

Not long after this, the Brotherhood dissolved, and Rossetti lived until 1882, making him 60 when he died. There's a great synopsis of his life here.