Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, later Rossetti, is noted for her family connections rather than in her own right; in particular, two of her children were co-founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and another became a famous poet.
Background
Frances was the daughter of Anna Maria Pierce and Italian exile Gaetano Polidori and sister of John Polidori, author of The Vampyre and Lord Byron"s physician.
Career
After Gabriele died she quickly burned the remaining copies of his book Il Mistero dell" Amor Platonico del Medio Evo. Her oldest child, Maria, wrote a book about Dante Alighieri and later became an Anglican nun. Her two sons, Gabriel Charles Dante (later known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti) and William Michael were among the co-founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Frances sat for Gabriel for some of his early paintings, for example, The Girlhood of Mary, Virgin, in which she modelled for Saint Anne.
Frances died in 1886 and was buried in the family plot at Highgate Cemetery.
