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William Michael Rossetti

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William Michael Rossetti

by William Rothenstein
oil on canvas, circa 1909
23 1/2 in. x 19 1/2 in. (597 mm x 495 mm)
Given by the sitter's daughters, 1931
Primary Collection
NPG 2485

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945), Artist and teacher of art. Artist or producer associated with 222 portraits, Sitter in 24 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Marsh, Jan, The Pre-Raphaelite Circle, 2013, p. 39 Read entry

    'Rothenstein came and took my portrait - lifesize head in oils. He is a rapid worker and between 11 and 4, with a full interval for lunch, he had about finished it,' recorded the sitter. 'It seems to us a fine likeness, with a more energetic expression than other recent versions.'

  • Marsh, Jan, Insights: The Pre-Raphaelite Circle, 2005, p. 38
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 535

Events of 1909back to top

Current affairs

The American retailer Harry Gordon Selfridge opens the first British custom-built department store on what was then the 'dead end' of Oxford Street. The revolutionary complex, considered the world's largest at the time, transforms shopping, offering diverse amenities including a post office and a library, and modernises the visual face of retailing through innovative window displays.

Art and science

The Frenchman Louis Bleriot becomes the first person to cross the English channel by aeroplane, winning the £1,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail, and greeted by cheering crowds at Dover station. Bleriot's flight also showed that England was, as H.G. Wells put it, from a military point of view 'no longer an inaccessible island'.
In dance, Alexandre Benois becomes the first artistic director of Sergey Diaghilev's innovative Ballets Russes.

International

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is founded in America to campaign for the rights of African Americans. One of the oldest and most influential civil rights movements, it was founded by a diverse group of individuals from mixed backgrounds, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Wells-Barnett, Henry Moscowitz and William English Walling.
The Selig Polyscope company sets up the first film studio in Los Angeles.

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