12th May 1828, birth of English Pre-Raphaelite founder, poet and painter Gabriel Dante Rossetti, nephew of John William Polidori, author of the first modern Vampire story, ‘The Vampyre’, published in 1819, and brother to poet Christina Rossetti, and writer and critic William Michael Rossetti. In 1848 Gabriel Dante Rossetti, alongside his brother and artists William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which attempted to revolutionize English art through a return to medieval aesthetics and symbolism. In 1850, Rossetti met Elizabeth Siddal, who would become over the next decade his muse, model and lover. In 1862 she died possibly by suicide of an overdose of laudanum. Grief stricken Rossetti buried all of his poetry with her at her grave in Highgate cemetery. Later digging them up, he descended into depression and addiction, dying in 1872. In 1894, Rosetti’s sister Christina died, and was also buried at Highgate. Highgate Cemetery was opened in 1839, to replace the medieval practice of burials in small parish churches. With the population of London more than doubling during the late 18th and early 19th century, this had led to a dangerous overcrowding of burials. Stories from prior to the cemeteries opening, talk of mourners witnessing their loved ones graves being dug, whereupon another was discovered, if the grave was within five, the remains were stomped into the ground to provide space for a new burial on top. Older burials were removed and cast aside to allow space, with coffins burned for firewood. This overcrowding had led parish churches to simply pile the dead into their church basements, (continued in the comments) #preraphaelite #preraphelites #rosetti #highgatecemetery #highgatecemetary #gothicvictorian #victoriangothic #victoriangothicstyle #vampirefiction #vampireaesthetic #vampireart #gothicfiction #johnwilliampolidori #thevampyre #horrorfiction #regencygothic #gothichistory #gabrieldanterossetti #victorianhistory #victorian #gothiccemetery #maryshelley #maryshelleyfrankenstein #michaelfaraday #gothictales #19thcenturyhistory #gothicillustration #historicalillustration #highgatevampire #vampirehistory https://www.instagram.com/p/CO0wAikH6nP/?igshid=1c3sb9ut5imth
