There are moments when I am busy researching one thing, and another small item comes across my desk and I'm hooked into a search for a story. This is true of a Victorian exhibition catalogue which I was flicking through and saw that a Rossetti painting that was included was owned by an artist who also had a painting there. Moreover, that painter was a woman, so I went in search, as I do like finding out about female artists/collectors in the nineteenth century (everyone needs a hobby). What I found was a tad on the tragic side, and you know how much we all love that. Let's start with the painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
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| The Wedding of St George and Princess Sabra (1863) Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
This is one of his later watercolours but calls back to his pre-Cornforth period, where Siddal-esque damsels and handsome knights (that look a bit like the artist) live a simple, content life. Princess Sabra bears a definite resemblance to Elizabeth Siddal, which for 1863 is very interesting. Likewise, the King and Queen are Rossetti's brother and sister, and one of the trumpeters looks remarkably like William Morris. So why did Rossetti reach back into his past for this painting?
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| Cartoon for Stained Glass Window design (1861-2) |
A simple answer is that the original design for the painting came from the past, if only a couple of years. The marriage of George and Sabra was one of the six designs Rossetti made for the newly formed Morris & Co in 1861-2. These designs were created during the golden days of Rossetti's marriage to his beloved Elizabeth, and the vision of Camelot that William and Jane Morris and the Red House presented. The painting of this scene was commissioned by Robert Henry Williams for his wife on the occasion of their marriage in August 1863. Quite how that sat with Rossetti, I'm not sure as it was just over a year since the sudden death of Elizabeth, by her own hand. This will unfortunately become relevant quite quickly. I'll start with Robert and then we'll tackle who he married...
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| William Smith Williams, Father of the Groom... |
Robert Williams was the son of the illustrious William Smith Williams who I talked about in this post. Robert was one of his many children, around sixth of eight in total, and unlike his father, he went into banking rather than publishing. As you will recall, his father was a friend of Charlotte Bronte, nurturing her talent, and this will not be the only mention of that Haworth family today. Rossetti had met William Smith Williams at a friend's house (according to William Michael in his memoir with family letters), which is where the acquaintance with Robert may have stemmed. Robert had been with the Union Bank, but by the time of his marriage he was the London manager of the Mercantile and Exchange Bank at only 26 years old. He was obviously a very talented young man.
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| The Studio at Townshend House by Emily Epps |
He was marrying Emily Epps, daughter of George Napolean Epps. George and his brother John were homeopathic doctors, who Charlotte Bronte wrote to in desperation at her sister Emily's medical condition in December 1848. They sent medicine but Emily rejected it and shortly afterwards died. Emily was an artist, as were her sisters Ellen (or Nellie) and probably most famously Laura.
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| Laura Alma-Tadema entering the Dutch Room at Townshend House (1873) Ellen (Nellie) Epps |
The sisters were trained by artist John Brett, and were also friends with Maria and Christina Rossetti; the latter recorded visiting them in 1857. Ellen was also taking instruction from Ford Madox Brown (she was a friend of Catherine Madox Brown), so the family were closely tied to the Pre-Raphaelites, closer than I actually realised - Laura subsequently married Lawrence Alma-Tadema and I wonder if that is why some people lump Larry A-T in with the Pre-Raphs, due to the links.
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| The Little Gardener by Emily Epps |
I wonder if it was the connection to Charlotte Bronte that brought Robert and Emily together? Either way, the couple were married and Robert commissioned Rossetti's watercolour as a wedding gift for his bride. On their wedding certificate, Robert's home is 9 New Cavendish Street, where the couple set up home in a rather grand house as befitted a bank manager. The Mercantile and Exchange Bank was started in 1863, a new bank with a young, bright manager and shortly before his wedding, negotiations concluded to take over the London Bank of Scotland with literally millions of pounds being discussed, which for 1863 must have seemed like impossible fortunes. Robert was clever, but allegedly highly strung and his health was a little delicate, but by the Autumn of 1863, Mr and Mrs Williams were a prestigious couple. By the Autumn of 1864, Emily was a widow.
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| The Drawing Room at Townshend House by Emily Epps |
The business of the bank was unpredictable, and in October 1864, the banking firm M. Souto in Brazil failed for a very large amount causing chaos, just as Brazil entered a war with Uruguay. Despite all the Bank's business with Brazil to be stable and correct, Robert found the news to be devastating and he plunged into a state of mental excitement. On Sunday 16th October, Robert saw his father, who judged him to be depressed but otherwise in fine health. Father-in-Law George also saw him and concurred, placing the blame his Robert's depression squarely at the feet of the rocky financial situation which Robert was managing to steer through. He felt he had overworked his brain which had given way due to the level of anxiety. Robert encouraged Emily to go out for the evening on Monday with a friend, to the theatre. When the servants got concerned about their master later on Monday night, George Epps was sent for and he went to his son-in-law's room and found him dead, poisoned by cyanide. The questioning at the inquest attempted to find out if Robert was a keen amateur photographer (and therefore could arguably have accidentally poisoned himself) but sadly not enough to have cyanide in the house for any reason other than this tragic one. The inquest concluded that Robert had taken his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed.
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| A Family Group (1896) Lawrence Alma-Tadema (from left to right Washington Epps, Ellen, Emily and Laura) |
Strangely (and very tragically) Robert's death may have freed Emily to pursue her artistic interests. She continued to paint, using her brother-in-law's studio, creating narrow paintings of different parts of the Alma-Tadema home at Townshend House in Regent's Park. She also shared a studio with her sister Ellen, and I wonder if she accompanied her sister when Ellen went on a European tour prior to her own marriage in the 1870s. Emily had 5 works at the Royal Academy between 1881 and 1889, as well as one from 1874 called My Doll's Picnic. I find it sad that in accounts of Ellen and Laura's art, no mention is made of Emily and her career, but she was present at her sister's side, in their studios if not in their biographies.
When Emily died in 1912, the Rossetti marriage painting was left to Ellen, by that time Lady Gosse, who sold it after her husband's death in 1928. It remains in private hands to this day. I'm not one to believe that objects are 'cursed' but the irony of this blissful marriage image from one sad widow to another (well, shortly afterwards), and the fact the Rossetti marriage (21 months) and the Williams marriage (14 months) were both cut short by the hand of the spouse is not lost on me. I would be interested to see what other art Emily owned and also what occasioned Robert to approach Rossetti to create the watercolour. If nothing else, it reminds us that even in the best known of families, some people slip from biographies and are lost.
