Maria Francesca Rossetti (17 February 1827 - 24 November 1876)
Best known for her text…
Shadow of Dante
Being an Essay
Towards Studying Himself, His World
and His Pilgrimage
(Digitized by Google)
Scant information available…
At the age of 46, Maria joined the Society of All Saints, an Anglican religious order for women. She made an English translation of the Monastic Diurnal for her order, The Day Hours and Other Offices as Used by the Sisters of All Saints, which was used by her order until 1922. She was buried in the convent plot at Brompton Cemetery. (Wikipedia)
We know her sister, Christina, dedicated Goblin Market to her…
Illustration for the cover of Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Rossetti Archive Textual Transcription – there are a few references such as these in brother William Michael’s publication…
Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His Family-Letters with a Memoir (Volume One)
authored by William Michael Rossetti, published in 1895
IV.
CHILDHOOD.
My mother, marrying on 10 April 1826, had four children— there were never any more—in four successive years: Maria Francesca, born on 17 February 1827; Gabriel Charles Dante, 12 May 1828; William Michael, 25 September 1829; and Christina Georgina, 5 December 1830. The famous Surgeon and Physician, Dr. Locock—afterwards Sir William Locock, the Queen’s accoucheur— ushered, I believe, all of us into the world; for our father—though a man of thrift, and in personal expenses heedfully sparing—grudged no cost needed for the well-being of his household. To Gabriel Charles Dante I shall here generally apply the name “Dante,” which he adopted as if it had stood first in order; in his own family, however, he was invariably termed Gabriel —or, by our sister Maria, “Gubby,” a pet name which other members of the household did not affect.
Our house, No. 38 Charlotte Street, was a fairly neat but decidedly small one: it is smaller inside than it looks viewed from outside. I can remember a little about it, but not much. Towards 1836 the family had outgrown it, and removed to No. 50 in the same street—a larger but still far indeed from being a spacious dwelling. This house is now the office of a Registrar of births, deaths, and marriages; and, singularly
enough, when I had to record in 1876 the death of my sister Maria, I found that the place for dong this was the very house in which she had so long resided. Soon after Gabriele Rossetti settled in Charlotte Street it began to go down in character, and at times it became the extreme reverse of “respectable.” Dante Rossetti in his early childhood was a pleasing, spirited-looking boy, with bright eyes, auburn hair, and fresh complexion. He remembered in after-years nothing distinctly earlier than this: That there used to be a Punch and Judy show which came at frequent intervals to perform just before our house, but for the delectation of our opposite neighbours, so that he himself only saw the back of the show. This was not at all what he wanted; so he motioned to go out into the street, and turn round and see the front of the Punch and Judy (there was no Dog Toby in those distant days), but was wofully disconcerted at being told that such a proceeding would be infra dig, and not to be condoned. Dante shared with Maria the ascendency over his two juniors: but Maria, in these opening years, was not easily to be superseded—being of a very enthusiastic temperament and lively parts; and indeed she always remained the best of the four at what we call acquired knowledge. In her fifth year she could read anything in either English or Italian, and read she did with tireless persistency. Our early years were passed wholly at home in London, with occasional visits to our grandparents at Holmer Green, our Aunts Margaret and Eliza, and our Uncle Philip, being continuously there as well. Our daily walks were with our mother in and about Regent’s Park, which was opened to the public much towards the date of my birth. I can still recollect how palatial I used to consider the frontage of the Terraces facing the Park, and how our mother would explain to us which of the columns or pilasters was Ionic, which Corinthian, and so on. The Colosseum, a big Exhibition building pulled down towards 1870, was then in existence, and was occasionally visited by us. It comprised a Camera Obscura, in which we viewed with wonder the groups of people disporting themselves….
