This portrait represents the renowned painter and poet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, when he was 35 years old. It was taken at his home, Tudor House, at 16 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London. Rossetti was a founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He is shown posed against a backcloth and seated on a simple caned chair of a kind that was to become popular in 'Aesthetic' circles. Photography was invented when Lewis Carroll was aged ten. He took it up as a hobby in his early twenties, specialising in pictures of young girls and famous people. He was introduced to Rossetti by his friend, the sculptor Alexander Munro, and was pleased to be invited by him to use Tudor House as a venue for posing his sitters.