Whistler’s Neighborhood: Impressions of a Changing London

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s House

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882), a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (a group of artists rebelling against the standards of the Royal Academy), was one of many artists who lived in Chelsea. Rossetti lived in a grand mansion, known as Queen’s House, at 16 Cheyne Walk. The acre of gardens behind the house permitted the artist to keep a menagerie of animals, including a peacock, a pair of kangaroos, and a pair of armadillos. Rossetti and Whistler became close friends in the early 1860s when Whistler moved into 7 Lindsey Row.