The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner who formed a seven-member "Brotherhood" partly modelled on the Nazarene movement. The Brotherhood was only ever a loose association and their principles were shared by other artists of the time, including Ford Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes and Marie Spartali Stillman. Later followers of the principles of the Brotherhood included Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and John William Waterhouse.
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti inspired the next generation of artists and writers, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones in particular. His work also influenced the European Symbolists and was a major precursor of the Aesthetic movement.
The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral and one of the National Museums Liverpool.
Luton Hoo is an English country house and estate near Luton in Bedfordshire and Harpenden in Hertfordshire. Most of the estate lies within the civil parish of Hyde, Bedfordshire. The Saxon word Hoo means the spur of a hill, and is more commonly associated with East Anglia.
Sir Julius Charles Wernher, 1st Baronet was a German-born Randlord, diamond magnate, and art collector who became part of the English establishment.
Ranger's House is a medium-sized red brick Georgian mansion in the Palladian style, adjacent to Greenwich Park in the south east of London. It is situated in Blackheath and backs directly onto Greenwich Park. Previously known as Chesterfield House, its current name is associated with the Ranger of Greenwich Park, a royal appointment; the house was the Ranger's official residence for most of the 19th century. It is a Grade I listed building. There is a rose garden behind it, and since 2002 it has housed the Wernher Collection of art.
William Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton, was a British businessman and a Whig politician who later became a Tory.
Devonshire House in Piccadilly, was the London townhouse of the Dukes of Devonshire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Following a fire in 1733 it was rebuilt by William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, in the Palladian style, to designs by William Kent. Completed circa 1740, it stood empty after the First World War and was demolished in 1924.
Alexander Hugh Baring, 4th Baron Ashburton, was a British landowner and Conservative Party politician.
"The Blessed Damozel" is perhaps the best known poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, as well as the title of his painting illustrating the subject. The poem was first published in 1850 in the Pre-Raphaelite journal The Germ. Rossetti subsequently revised the poem twice and republished it in 1856, 1870 and 1873.
Henry Ludlow Lopes, 2nd Baron Ludlow, was a British barrister and politician.
The Grange is a 19th-century country house-mansion and English landscape park near Northington in Hampshire, England. It is currently owned by the Baring family, Barons Ashburton.
Self-Portrait is a 1660 oil on canvas painting by the Dutch artist Rembrandt, one of over 40 self-portraits by Rembrandt. Painted when the artist was fifty-four, it has been noted as a work in which may be seen "the wrinkled brow and the worried expression the troubled condition of his mind". Part of the Benjamin Altman Collection, it has been in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City since 1913.
Lady Lilith is an oil painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti first painted in 1866–1868 using his mistress Fanny Cornforth as the model, then altered in 1872–73 to show the face of Alexa Wilding. The subject is Lilith, who was, according to ancient Judaic myth, "the first wife of Adam" and is associated with the seduction of men and the murder of children. She is shown as a "powerful and evil temptress" and as "an iconic, Amazon-like female with long, flowing hair."
The Beloved is an oil painting on canvas by the English artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882), now in Tate Britain, London. Rossetti signed his initials and the date as "1865-6" on the bottom left of the canvas. It depicts the bride, or "beloved", from the Song of Solomon in the Hebrew Bible as she approaches her bridegroom, with her attendants.
Monna Rosa is the title of two oil paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, both portraits of Frances Leyland, the wife of shipping magnate Frederick Richards Leyland, a regular patron of Rossetti. The earlier and smaller painting was completed in 1862 and its whereabouts is now unknown. The second was completed in 1867 and is now in a private collection.
Harriet Mary Baring, Baroness Ashburton was a socialite and hostess.
John Robert Parsons was an Irish photographer and painter. He is best known by the series of photographs he made in 1865 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti's model Jane Morris.
Louisa Caroline Baring, Lady Ashburton was a Scottish art collector and philanthropist who had close connections with several artistic and literary figures of the period.
Virginia Surtees was a British art historian and author.
A daring robbery of valuable antiques was committed early yesterday morning at Bath House, Piccadilly, W, the residence of Lady Ludlow, the widow of Lord Ludlow who died in 1922.
Expert thieves entered the collection room on the first floor overlooking the Green Park, broke open several of the cases, and stole exquisite antiques of the 15th and 16th centuries. They formed part of a collection which was the proud possession of the late Sir Julius C Wernher, Lady Ludlow’s first husband. They cannot be replaced. In the open market they might, it is estimated, fetch £50,000 or £100,000, or even more.
The circumstances indicate that the thieves are themselves art experts, and it is believed that they will not melt the gold and sell the precious stones individually, but rather attempt to dispose of the valuables intact on the Continent or in America.
Lady Ludlow and members of her family and all the servants were in the house asleep while the thieves were silently working. It is thought that two men were responsible, and that they concealed themselves in the basement before everybody had retired for the night. The treasures were in locked glass cases, which were forced by the hand of an expert wielding a jemmy. Only the very best specimens were removed, and the hundreds of objects left behind were not touched or damaged.
Not one of the doors was forced, neither had any windows been tampered with, and it is assumed that the thieves entered the house through an open door late at night and concealed themselves in the basement to await an opportunity to go upstairs. No fingerprints have been found. The detectives were engaged on an important line of inquiry last night, and the police at all the ports were alerted, as it was thought that the thieves would attempt to leave the country in order to dispose of the property to foreign dealers.
