for many years, rossetti worked on english translations of italian poetry including dante alighieri's "la vita nuova" (published as "the early italian poets" in 1861). these and sir thomas malory's "le morte d'arthur" inspired his art of the 1850s. he created a method of painting in watercolours, using thick pigments mixed with gum to give rich effects similar to medieval illuminations. he also developed a novel drawing technique in pen-and-ink. his first published illustration was "the maids of elfen-mere" (1855), for a poem by his friend william allingham, and he contributed two illustrations to edward moxon's 1857 edition of alfred, lord tennyson's "poems" and illustrations for works by his sister christina rossetti.