Once again, that cheeky wombat makes his appearance. Here he is with Lizzie Siddal. Are you missing out on the wombat fun? If you’re a Twitter user, just search the hashtag #wombatfriday. Or take a look at my feed. I retweet as many Friday wombats as I can. My Twitter name is beguilingmerlin, after the … Read more
Often I find that I prefer an artist’s studies to the completed work. Perhaps it is that they are raw beginnings, a hint of what is to come. Although usually I feel that a certain emotional quality is captured in the face of the model and somehow lost in translation when recreated in oils. Head … Read more
It’s frivolous. It’s fun. Wombat Friday is growing and every week I gleefully enjoy everyone’s contributions. Apart from the silliness, I’m sort of moved by it all. It feels like a shared sense of community. Beneath a layer of wombat tomfoolery lies evidence of our shared passion and enthusiasm. Somehow we stumbled upon a sort … Read more
Pearls adorn Love’s Shadow by Frederick Sandys A pearl rosary in the background of Kate Bunce’s The Keepsake: Large pearls are strung at intervals in Helen’s necklace (Helen of Troy, Dante Gabriel Rossetti) Three pearls suspended from a brooch in The Pale Complexion of True Love by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale:
To the ancient Greeks, they were tears of the gods. My grandmother’s akoya pearls are the most precious piece of jewelry I own, beside my wedding ring. Apart from their sentimental value, they have a gorgeous lustre and have aged quite well. Pearls appear front and center in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Belcolore: And in Fanny … Read more
Last week I shared an account of Burne-Jones and Rossetti and their fascination with that delightful creature, the wombat. Today I share another contemporary account of Rossetti and his strange collection of animals. Alas, no mention of the beloved wombat, but it is an interesting account of Rossetti and his menagerie. From The Story of … Read more
Happy Wombat Friday! With brownies! Georgiana Burne-Jones writes about Rossetti’s interest in wombats in Memorials of Burne-Jones, vol. I: “Mr. Prinsep says that the windows in the spaces they were painting were whitened in order to tone the light, and that the whitened glass was covered all over with sketches, chiefly of … Read more
Today I have been contemplating this passage from The Memorials of Burne-Jones: “All the actual study of painting that Edward did with Rossetti was a few mornings’ work in his studio, but what he learnt from him was far more than painting. “He taught me to have no fear or shame of my own ideas, … Read more