ILLUSTRATIONS
| In Photogravure | |
| Robert Browning From a drawing by Field Talfourd, Rome, 1855 | Frontispiece |
| Page | |
| Elizabeth Barrett Browning From a drawing by Field Talfourd, Rome, 1855 | 39 |
| Engravings | |
| Busts of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning | 2 |
| Monument to Michael Angelo, by Vasari Church of Santa Croce, Florence | 80 |
| Old Monastery at Vallombrosa | 98 |
| The Guardian Angel, Guercino Church of San Agostino, Fano | 103 |
| Monument to Dante, by Stefano Ricci Piazza di Santa Croce, Florence | 108 |
| Palazzo Vecchio, Florence | 113 |
| Statue of Savonarola, by E. Pazzi Sala dei Cinquecento, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence | 116 |
| Fresco of Dante, by Giotto The Bargello, Florence | 121 |
| Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence (known as the Duomo) | 126 |
| The Ponte Vecchio and the Arno, Florence | 142 |
| Casa Guidi | 146 |
| The Clasped Hands of the Brownings Cast in bronze from the model taken by Harriet Hosmer in Rome, 1853 | 153 |
| The Campagna and Ruins of the Claudian Aqueducts, Rome | 156 |
| The Coronation of the Virgin, by Filippo Lippi Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence | 166 |
| Andrea del Sarto. Portrait of the Artist and his Wife Pitti Gallery, Florence | 170 |
| Equestrian Statue of Ferdinando de’ Medici, by Giovanni da Bologna Piazza dell’ Annunziata, Florence | 174 |
| Villa Petraja, near Florence | 178 |
| Church of San Miniato, near Florence | 182 |
| The Palazzo Barberini, Via Quattro Fontane, Rome | 188 |
| The English Cemetery, Florence | 197 |
| Tomb of Elizabeth Barrett Browning | 200 |
| Kate Field From the portrait by Elihu Vedder, Florence, 1860 | 208 |
| The Pallazzo Riccardi, Florence | 214 |
| Bust of Robert Browning, by his Son | 226 |
| Portrait of Robert Browning in 1882, by his Son | 242 |
| Church of San Lorenzo, Florence | 246 |
| Portrait of Robert Barrett Browning, as a Child, 1859 | 263 |
| Portrait of Robert Browning, by George Frederick Watts, R.A. | 270 |
| Mrs. Arthur Bronson, by Ellen Montalba, in Asolo | 274 |
| Miss Edith Bronson, (Comtessa Rucellai) | 280 |
| Portrait of Professor Hiram Corson, by J. Colin Forbes, R.A. | 290 |
| Palazzo Rezzonico, Venice | 294 |
| Engraved Facsimile of a letter from Robert Browning to Professor Hiram Corson | 260 |
CHAPTER I
1812-1833
“Allons! after the Great Companions! and to belong to them!”
“To know the universe itself as a road—as many roads—as
roads for travelling souls.”
The Most Exquisite Romance of Modern Life—Ancestry and Youth of Robert Browning—Love of Music—Formative Influences—The Fascination of Byron—A Home “Crammed with Books”—The Spell of Shelley—“Incondita”—Poetic Vocation Definitely Chosen—“Pauline.”
Such a very page de Contes is the life of the wedded poets, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, that it is difficult to realize that this immortal idyl of Poetry, Genius, and Love was less than fifteen years in duration, out of his seventy-seven, and her fifty-five years of life. It is a story that has touched the entire world
“... with mystic gleams,
Like fragments of forgotten dreams,”
this story of beautiful associations and friendships, of artistic creation, and of the entrance on a wonderful realm of inspiration and loveliness. At the time of their marriage he was in his thirty-fifth, and she in her forty-first year, although she is described as looking so youthful that she was like a girl, in her slender, flower-like grace; and he lived on for twenty-eight years after
“Clouds and darkness
Fell upon Camelot,”
with the death of his “Lyric Love.” The story of the most beautiful romance that the world has ever known thus falls into three distinctive periods,—that of the separate life of each up to the time of their marriage; their married life, with its scenic setting in the enchantment of Italy; and his life after her withdrawal from earthly scenes. The story is also of duplex texture; for the outer life, rich in associations, travel, impressions, is but the visible side of the life of great creative art. A delightful journey is made, but its record is not limited to the enjoyment of friends and place; a poem is written whose charm and power persist through all the years.
Busts of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Made
