John Robert Parsons ( – January 1909) was an Irish

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in oth ...

and

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

. He is best known by the series of photographs he made in 1865 by

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

's model

Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband Willia ...

Life and work

Parsons was born in Dublin, the son of

gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the r ...

Henry Parsons and his wife, Jane, of Richmond Lodge. He was baptised in April 1827 at St. George's Church, Dublin, and grew up in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

. He moved in 1840 to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. There he worked as a painter and between 1850 and 1868 he exhibited several times at the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

and

Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provide ...

. From 1860 he was also involved with photography and opened a photo studio in

Portman Square Portman Square is a garden square in Marylebone, central London, surrounded by elegant townhouses. It was specifically for private housing let on long leases having a ground rent by the Portman Estate, which owns the private communal garden ...

. Besides portraits, he also took photographs of paintings, including

and

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

''Reverie''

File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Reverie.jpg,

:
''Reverie'', model : Jane Morris File:Parsons - Jane Burden.jpg, John Robert Parsons:
''Jane Morris'', 1865 File:16 Cheyne Walk 05.JPG, 16 Cheyne Walk Today, Parsons still primarily known for the series of pictures he made at the request of Rossetti in the summer of 1865 Rossetti's former muse and model

. The photo shoot in Rossetti's garden and house are eighteen portraits known. Rossetti conducted meticulous control over the poses during the session that took Morris, as well as the clothes they wore and the objects and furniture that were used. It is difficult to say how Rossetti took the photos later as a basis for later paintings. His ''Reverie'' in 1868 unmistakably resembles one of the pictures taken, but also be seen similarities with other portraits not only of Morris but also with later portraits Rossetti made of Alexa Wilding. Rossetti, however, used the pictures are not as detailed studies, but probably mainly as tools to visualize certain poses and as a reminder for the times that his model was not available.

Later

Early 1870s Parsons partnered with Rossetti's art dealer Charles Augustin Howell. From about 1870 to 1877 he had a studio in London's

Wigmore Street Wigmore Street is a street in the City of Westminster, in the West End of London. The street runs for about 600 yards parallel and to the north of Oxford Street between Portman Square to the west and Cavendish Square to the east. It is named aft ...

, but from 1878 he photographed no more. From 1888 he would no longer hold exhibitions and he led a secluded life. He was known as a quiet and introverted man. Parsons was declared bankrupt in 1892. In 1909, he died in solitude in a room in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...

, on the top floor of Mount Carmel Chambers on Dukes Lane. It took almost a month before his body was discovered. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' published an article on his death under the headline "An artist's death." Four days later, after the inquest established that he had died a natural death, the newspaper published an obituary, moreover, in which he was praised as "an admirable artist in oil and chalk." Despite his bankruptcy, it was revealed at the inquest into his death that he had "plenty of money" in the apartment and "substantial balance" in his bank account. Multiple unfinished paintings were strewn about the apartment. To the general public, he remained unknown, partly because he refused to exhibit in the last decades of his life. A photo portrait Parsons in 1870 made by

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

currently hangs in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. His paintings are located and are scarcely known in private collections.

Portraits

File:William_Morris_by_JR_Parsons.jpg, William Morris File:Rossetti_by_Parsons_1870.png, William Michael Rossetti

Jane Morris, 1865

Jane Morris (née Jane Burden; 1839–1914), photographed by John Robert Parsons, 7 June 1865, posed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, printed by Emery Walker Ltd. "On 7 June 1865. Two were taken indoors, the rest outside in the garden of

's house at 16

Cheyne Walk Cheyne Walk is an historic road in Chelsea, London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It runs parallel with the River Thames. Before the construction of Chelsea Embankment reduced the width of the Thames here, it fronted ...

, Chelsea." File:Jane Morris (1865).jpg, File:JaneMorris-1865-JohnRobertMorris3.jpg, File:JaneMorris-1865-JohnRobertParsons4.jpg, File:JaneMorris-1865-JohnRobertParsons5.jpg, File:JaneMorris-1865-JohnRobertParsons6.jpg, File:JaneMorris-1865-JohnRobertParsons.jpg, File:Jane Morris 1865.jpg, File:John Robert Parsons - Portrait of Jane Morris.jpg, File:John R Parsons - Jane Morris.jpg, File:Parsons - Jane Burden.jpg, File:Parsons jane-morris1.jpg, File:Parsons jane-morris2.jpg, File:Parsons-john-r-jane-morris-posed-by-dante-gabriel-rossetti-1865-2.jpg, File:Parsons-john-r-jane-morris-posed-by-dante-gabriel-rossetti-1865-3.jpg, File:Parsons-john-r-jane-morris-posed-by-dante-gabriel-rossetti-1865.jpg, File:Parsons-john-r-jane-morris-posed-by-dante-gabriel-rossetti.jpg, File:Parsons Morris2.jpg, File:Parsons Morris4.jpg, File:Parsons Morris7.jpg, File:Parsons Morris8.jpg, File:Parsons Morris9.jpg,

References