Rossetti

ros-set'tee, a talented Italian family well known in the art and literary circles of London. The father, Gabriele Rossetti, was educated at the University of Naples and held a position in the museum of that institution. He became a member of the secret society known as the Carbonari, and was active in promoting revolutionary ideas. In 1821 he was obliged to flee the country for his life. He became a professor of Italian in King's College, London, a position in which he acquired no little note as a commentator of Dante's Divine Commedia. He left a number of critical works relating to Dante's writings. He lived 1783-1854. Of four children, two sons and two daughters, who inherited their father's taste for literature, the best known is Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who has a wide reputation both as a poet and a painter.