[Rossetti, Christina- Excessively Rare Unpublished Christina Rossetti ALS to Oliver Madox Brown] One of only three known letters by CGR to Oliver Madox Brown

Rossetti, Christina & Oliver Madox Brown

Beschreibung

Excessively rare autograph letter from Christina Rossetti to the young prodigy Oliver Madox Brown, likely 1871-72, when the budding literary and artistic phenom was in his mid-teens. Only two other autograph letters have been found by Christina Rossetti to Oliver Madox Brown, per Antony Harrison, and this one, unpublished, appears to predate both cited by Harrison. Oliver Madox Brown (1855-1874), the first son of the distinguished Pre-Raphaelite painter Ford Madox Brown and Emma Hill, lived a short and incredibly gifted life, showing precocious gifts in both painting as well as literature. He began his first prose story, "Gabriel Denver," in 1871 when he was 17, and it was published in 1873 with little or no fanfare. He began "Hebditch's Legacy" in 1872, but never completed it, succumbing to blood-poisoning in Nov., 1874 at 19. Oliver Madox Brown is universally recognized as one of the more brilliant, young rising stars in art and in literature in 19th Century England, cut down, as it were, well before his potential was ever realized. With the heading, "56 Euston Square. N.W., Friday Evening [written ?71, by William Fredeman, noted Pre-Raphaelite scholar), Christina tenderly acknowledges and thanks Oliver "for enriching me with two such very beautiful & interesting works. Gabriel has explained to me the subject of the one, that of the other is obvious. You seem to have a great deal of your father's power of expression both in faces, figures, & scenery; your trees & stones have each its own character." She goes on to say that Lucy told her that he had begun studying Italian with her and expresses her great pleasure in helping "If ever you should think I could be of use in correcting an exercise or smoothing a difficulty." She closes by giving remembrance to his father, sending love to his Mother and Sister. "I remain, dear Oliver, yours affectionately, C. G. Rossetti." A wonderfully sensitive and alluring letter by the middle-aged Christina Rossetti, in the height of her literary career, offering her kindnesses to what must have been a very auspicious occasion, that swiftly turned to a tragic outcome, only a few years later. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 4107

Bibliografische Details

Titel: [Rossetti, Christina- Excessively Rare ...