This page is a work in progress. If you have a sighting to add, please post a comment or post on the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood Facebook page, send me a tweet on twitter to @preraphsister, or email stephanie@siddal.net.
I love Inspector Morse mysteries.I first saw them in the 90s on PBS Mystery! and later on the A&E network. My father, a fellow mystery lover, first introduced me to the curmudgeonly Morse (who drinks too much and has a passion for both opera and crosswords). It had been years since I’d seen a Morse episode, so I bought several DVD’s online. Imagine my surprise when in the first few minutes of the first episode I saw Rossetti’s Proserpine!
The drawing of the wall looks very much like one of Rossetti’s studies of Annie Miller. Perhaps for Helen of Troy?
The painting on the easel is not Pre-Raphaelite, it was created for the film. But it is identical to Monna Vanna, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. If you watch closely, you can see this painting several times in the movie.
Now, this sighting surprised me the most given that I have seen this movie hundreds of times and I never noticed that Solitude by Frederic, Lord Leighton hangs in the hallway in My Fair Lady! I’ll share Leighton’s image first:
More William Morris wallpaper?
Added Sept. 2, 2008:
On the same evening, I find that Grace of The Beautiful Necessity has posted some wonderful sightings from a BBC miniseries Daniel Deronda:
Update October 12, 2008: Last night I was watching Inspector Lewis Series II on Masterpiece Mystery. Lewis is a sequel to my beloved Inspector Morse mysteries. I was ecstatic to see this Pre-Raphaelite poster advertising an exhibit at the Tate. The painting is Monna Vanna by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
This episode of Inspector Lewis is titled The Quality of Mercy and you can watch it online here.
William Morris Wallpaper in The Spiderwick Chronicles (please click for Grace’s full post)
Another image with possible William Morris wallpaper from The Spiderwick Chronicles (thanks Alex!)
Pre-Raphaelite Works in The Importance of Being Earnest (Reese Witherspoon)-please click for Grace’s full post
Pre-Raphaelite Gowns in Movies (please click for Grace’s full post)
William Morris’ Guinevere, or La Belle Iseult in Snow White The Fairest of them All
Waterhouse’s The Soul of the Rose in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Burne-Jones Sidonia Von Bork in Sleepy Hollow. Grace also allowed me to share this image in my Sidonia Von Bork post.
Dorian Gray and the PRB (click to read full post, she has several screen caps of this delicious movie)
Leighton’s God Speed in Dorian Gray
Added November 10, 2010:
This production of The Woman in White was actually in transit to me (from Netflix) when someone mentioned it in the comments of this post! I was excited to watch it. If you’ve read the book, you should know that there are a number of changes. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting Beata Beatrix is not only mentioned, but discussed. So is the exhumation of his wife Elizabeth Siddal.
Added January 11, 2011: I was watching an episode of Wire in the Blood on Netflix and I was happily surprised that Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais made an appearance. The episode Sharp Compassion is from season 2 of Wire in the Blood. It is a dark drama with adult subject matter and is based on the series of books by Val McDermid –I’ve read three of them and enjoy the television adaptation. But beware, it can be a bit grisly. Wire in the Blood is a psychological crime drama whose main character, Dr. Tony Hill, immerses himself in a case to create a profile of the killer. In this episode, the painting of Ophelia sparks an idea about the positioning of the victims bodies — all of the victims are hospital patients killed by an “angel of mercy” type of killer.
Tony Hill then compares the crime scene photo to Ophelia. Although the painting plays an interesting part in the plot development, it is never mentioned and never enters into any dialogue.
Added February 28, 2010: On the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood Facebook Page, Alexandrion Drallipo kindly shared images discovered from The Uninvited. I’ve never seen The Uninvited, but the synopsis at IMDB says “Anna Rydell returns home to her sister (and best friend) Alex after a stint in a mental hospital, though her recovery is jeopardized thanks to her cruel stepmother, aloof father, and the presence of a ghost in their home.”
Once again, a big thank you to Alexandrion Drallipo for sharing this siting from Russian Dolls (2005). Brief synopsis via IMDB: ” Five years after their summer together in Barcelona, Xavier, William, Wendy, Martine and Isabelle reunite.” (Stars the always wonderful Audrey Tatou) You can see Leighton’s famous painting The Accolade in the jigsaw puzzle:
Added April 23, 2010:
My dear friend Grace, who also writes one of my favorite blogs, spotted Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Proserpine in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the latest Narnia movie:
Added July 14, 2010: Alexandrion Drallipo has sent me two screen caps from An Education, a movie that several people have recommended to me. I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s languishing in my Netflix queue. I hope to watch it soon.
I also want to thank Alexandrion for sharing — I’m sorry it has taken so long for me to post them! The first image shows The Tree of Forgiveness by Burne-Jones in the background. And in the second we can see a painting I have quite strong feelings for: The Beguiling of Merlin (also Burne-Jones):
Added July 25, 2011 Kirsty Stonell Walker sent me a treasure trove of sightings! First, from the movie Cashback (recommended by our mutual friend Grace) IMDB describes Cashback : “After a painful breakup, Ben develops insomnia. To kill time, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket, where his artistic imagination runs wild. “
The Bridesmaid by Millais is in the opening scene!
Kirsty’s next siting is from Me Without You. Here’s a description (again from IMDB): “Growing up in the 1970s on the Isle of Wight, Holly and Marina make a childhood pact to be friends forever. For the troubled, unpredictable Marina, with her seemingly glamorous father and her Valium-addicted mother, Holly stays the only constant in a life of divorcing parents, experimental drugs and fashionable self-destruction. Meanwhile, Holly buries herself in books out of feelings of frustration with her over-protective mother and a nagging insecurity around her beautiful and possessive best friend. She holds just one secret from Marina, her increasing passion for Marina’s brother Nat. As the years roll by, the girls experience everything life has to offer, sex, love, loss and rock ‘n roll. But eventually for Holly, a friendship which has never been equal gradually begins to feel like a trap. “
I would love to know who designed this set and what other projects they’ve worked on, because it’s filled with Pre-Raphaelite goodies in what looks like a pretty accurate portrayal of a 1970s teenage bedroom:
Notice the Alma Tadema painting just behind her.
In the left corner, we can see Rossetti’s Astarte Syriaca. And to the right, on the opposite wall, we see not one, but two Ophelias! One by Hughes, the other Millais.
On the door we can see Rossetti’s posthumous tribute to his wife, Beata Beatrix.
Pasted collage-style on her mirror are two images from Rossetti’s The Bower Meadow. I think the lower cut-out of Jane Morris is also Astarte Syriaca.
There is no Pre-Raphaelite painting in the screen cap above. But, come on! It’s very Pre-Raphaelite, reminiscent of an Evelyn De Morgan dryad.
On the door is The Golden Stair by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones. To the right, on the wall, is another painting. There’s a glare, so I’m not entirely certain, but it looks like it could be from the Briar Rose/ Sleeping Beauty series (also Burne-Jones).
Just above her is Waterhouse’s Hylas and the Nymphs.
Below her, to the left, is Waterhouse’s Lady of Shalott. Above her, to the right, is Rossetti’s Proserpine.
Just behind her is Ophelia by Arthur Hughes.
On the bulletin board, we see an assortment of Pre-Raphaelite postcards (Monna Vanna, The Beloved, Beata Beatrix and Proserpine).
Another siting for the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sitings list! Alexandrion Drallipo has noticed a William Morris wallpaper pattern in the movie Nim’s Island. This is the Arbutus pattern, seen here in screen caps:
Added April 21, 2013:
Thank you to Alexandrion Drallipo for discovering these images. William Morris’ Larkspur wallpaper in Finding Neverland:
William Morris’ Willow pattern wallpaper in the TV series Justified:
William Morris Windrush wallpaper in Django Unchained:
Thank you to Lisa Gill for noticing The Crystal Ball by John William Waterhouse in The Following:
Added January 8, 2014: I was watching an episode of America Unearthed recently and was surprised to see Frederick Sandys’ painting Mary Magdalene. I see Pre-Raphaelite images used all the time on television, but the use of Mary Magdalene was an unusual choice in this particular case.
Mary Magdalene was used to portray Tea Tephi, an Egyptian princess. Sandys’ painting does not look very Egyptian, but for that matter she also does not look like the middle-Eastern that we know Mary Magdalene to have been.
Curious as to why the Sandys painting was chosen for the program, I googled Tea Tephi. Surprisingly, Mary Magdalene is the first image that appears in Google image search. For whatever reason, she appears on this ancestry page about Tea Tephi and I suspect that this is the source for America Unearthed’s use of the painting.
Added January 9, 2014. More sightings, courtesy Alexandrion Drallipo:
Update 4/3/2016: I was able to get better screen caps of Seance on a Wet Afternoon. The movie is currently available on Hulu.
Added July 15, 2014: William Morris wallpaper in Monarch of the Glen
Monarch of the Glen: Archie MacDonald, a young restaurateur is called back to his childhood home of Glenbogle where he is told he is the new Laird of Glenbogle. —via IMDB
Thank you to Lisa Gill for sharing her screencaps of Monarch of the Glen. Lisa’s keen eye spotted what appears to be the William Morris Honeysuckle pattern on the walls and the Blackthorn pattern in the stack of fabric:
Added January 9, 2015:
‘Reverie’ by Dante Gabriel Rossetti can be seen in the background of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This is Mr. Pitt’s apartment, where the character Elaine works as Mr. Pitt’s personal assistant. Sixth episode of the sixth season of Seinfeld, titled ‘The Gymnast’.
Added April 27, 2015:Thank you to Victoria Osborne for sharing. The 2013 thriller The Best Offer (Deception) stars Geoffrey Rush as an eccentric art auctioneer with a secret collection of portraits of beautiful women – including Burne-Jones’ Vespertina Quies and one of Birmingham Museums’ Rossetti drawings of Fanny Cornforth.
Pre-Raphaelite beauties aside, these is a magnificent collection of masterpieces on a film set. Just gorgeous. I spot one of my favorite Modiglianis as well.
September 10, 2015: Alex has even more delightful screen caps from the film!
Added July 13, 2015:
Episode 10 of the first season of Murder, She Wrote shows Aurora Triumphans by one of my favorite female Pre-Raphaelites: Evelyn De Morgan. Aurora Triumphans currently hangs in the Russell-Cotes Gallery.
In this episode, a villainous owner of an amusement park tries to blackmail Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury, always fabulous in my opinion) into creating a horror attraction for the park. He is later found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Jessica Fletcher suspects foul play and assists local police in their investigation. As always, Jessica’s astute observation skills help her to solve the crime.
Added September 10, 2015: Singer Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine. Lizzie Siddal can be seen on the wall. (Thanks again to Alex for this.)
The Garden of Hesperides of Sir Burne-Jones hanging on the wall of Florence Welch’s London home. (Vogue May 2013)
This Medieval Babes CD cover features a William Morris illustration (thanks again to Alex!)
The Railway Children (2000), a delightful movie based on E Nesbit’s 1906 book, has some gorgeous examples of William Morris wallpaper (thank you Alex).
Also contributed by Alex, from The Bucaneers (1995, BBC). More William Morris wallpaper:
Below see Morris’ pimpernel pattern in 2013 french movie VIOLETTE (about Violette Leduc and Simone de Beauvoir).
Below: Alice in Hell, Annihilator Video Clip, possible Pre-Raphaelite stained glass?
Below: William Morris Sunflower wallpaper in The Piano
Emma Watson in Ballet Shoes. William Morris Windrush wallpaper.
Another scene from Ballet Shoes:
William Morris Honeysuckle pattern in the French film “Un peu, Beaucoup, Aveuglément” (thank you Alex)
More Honeysuckle in “Un peu, Beaucoup, Aveuglément”
William Morris Arbutus pattern in the French film “INTOUCHABLES” with Omar Sy (thank you Alex).
William Morris Willow pattern on the outdoor furniture to the right. Seen in Boyhood (thanks Alex).
William Morris Fruit pattern seen in How I Live Now (thanks Alex).
Dicksee’s Romeo and Juliet seen inthe French movie “Ne te retourne pas” with Sophie Marceau and Monica Belluci (thank you to Alex).
William Morris wallpaper in The Notebook (thank you again to Alex).
William Morris Pomegranate pattern in The Notebook ( a behind the scenes screen cap)
William Morris Willow pattern in The Notebook:
Added January 12, 2016: Season 17, episode 1 of Law and Order: SVU included Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Belcolore and Lady Lilith. It’s not a spoiler to tell you that the art in the killer’s home reflects his obsession with red hair.
Added May 26, 2016: William Holman Hunt’s painting Isabella and the Pot of Basil spotted in Whitechapel.
Whitechapel is a British detective series. It’s dark and atmospheric with most of the mysteries hearkening back to historic Whitechapel crimes like Jack the Ripper and the Kray twins. It’s currently available to watch on Hulu.
Season 3, episodes three and four are inspired by the Thames torso murders of the 1880s. Isabella and the Pot of Basil can be seen in a chocolate shop whose owner is very suspicious indeed (especially if you already know the story behind the painting.)
I finally decided to write a comment on your blog. I just wanted to say good job. I really enjoy reading your posts.
OOOwwww, that’s cool!
I possess Possession (funny play on words!) and I’ve seen My Fair Lady last week! Cool!
if I spot any other Pre-Raphaelite thingie in movies, i’ll tell you!! I probabaly did and forgot or just didn’t pay attention!
That’s a cool idea !!
Alexxx
Some excellent sleuthing! (Oh, and I agree with you, Joan Hickson IS Miss Marple. I saw the new Miss Marple on BBC and was rather taken aback. It just didn’t seem right–even if they hadn’t changed the stories).
You’re spot on about the fabric from My Fair Lady. It was printed in a variety of different colours on different backgrounds, but it’s Golden Lily Minor. They actually had a showing of My Fair Lady at Morris and Co. back in 2003 to show people the use of William Morris fabrics and wallpapers in the film!
Thank you Margaret! I thought I was right about the Golden Lily pattern, but hadn’t seen in it that color. So I questioned myself.
I did not know about the 2003 event with William Morris/My Fair Lady. How wonderful! I wonder if there is a record of it somewhere, or an article I can link to?
And I adore Joan Hickson! I was in junior high (perhaps 11 or 12) when I watched her. After seeing my favorite episode (Nemesis) I remember saving my money in order to buy a Miss Marple audio book on cassette just because Joan Hickson narrated it. I would listen to it every night as I went to sleep. I still have it. It has taken me years, but I have collected almost all of Agatha Christie’s books and I’m so excited that now my daughter wants to read them! The new Marple series upset me. I just don’t approve of such broad changes! The books are great mysteries just as they are.
Paul reminded me of another Morse episode that is heavy with Pre-Raphaelite works, and I found it today! So I’ll be posting more images soon.
Sitings from The Beautiful Necessity:
William Morris in the Spiderwick Chronicles
Pre-Raphaelite works in The Importance of Being Earnest (with Reese Witherspoon)
Pre-Raphaelite Gowns in Movies!
Thank you Grace, for letting me share these links!
Let’s not forget The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the 1981 movie starring Meryl Streep. So much of it is filled with Pre-Raphaelite imagery…and Streep could have been a Rossetti model if she had been around back then. The movie is well worth renting.
Also from The Beautiful Necessity:
http://thebeautifulnecessity.blogspot.com/2008/09/daniel-deronda.html
Some fabulous images from a BBC Miniseries, Daniel Deronda! Thank you Grace!
Saturday Night Live used to have large blow-ups of Pre-raphaelite paintings behind their house band. My apologies for not finding an image to share. Maybe someone else has one.
Just finished watching the recent BBC broadcast (on a borrowed DVD) of The Victorians. Wonderful! You even get to visit the workhouses and some untouched Victorian-era homes. It delves into both the romantic and the seamy side of Victorian life in just about all aspects. Anyway, my point is, episode 4 has quite a lot of Pre-Raphaelite material.
The drawing to the right of the portrait of Lizzie Siddall is, if I’m not mistaken, a drawing of Jane Morris also by Rossetti
Just saw the film “An Education” at my local art cinema theater. It’s set in London in the early 1960s … and has a couple of major references to the Pre-Raphs, particularly Edward Burne-Jones. Four star movie, but not for the kids.
Here’s Burne-Jones The Tree of Forgiveness
http://www.refinery29.com/static/bin/entry/69b/x/23268/an-education-inspiration.jpg
Is that another one behind her? I don’t know, looks like it!
http://www.refinery29.com/static/bin/entry/69b/x/23268/an-education-inspiration.jpg
thanks ! I thoroughly enjoyed your site – keep up the good work 🙂
Recently watched The Thomas Crown Affair on network tv and one painting in his impressive collection was a Burne Jones! I don’t own it on DVD, or I’d screen-cap and give the exact work. Of course, Renee Russo is very Pre-Raphaelite looking too.
Thank you! It has been years since I’ve seen that movie, I’ll have to watch it again so I can include it here!
YES!
That’s The Mirror Of Venus !
My screencap out of a Youtube video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgTfWzseHns&feature=related at 2:13!
http://i51.tinypic.com/2rzs7s3.png
And wouldn’t that be another one? It looks like it could be but I don’t know which!
http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/1999_The_Thomas_Crown_Affair/999TCA_Rene_Russo_092.jpg
It’s very interesting post. Thank you. I admire your perceptiveness.
“I think it is Morris’s Golden Lily Minor pattern. I may be mistaken about the name”
I also think that this pattern is the Golden Lily:
http://www.grahamsandersoninteriors.com/acatalog/morris_readymade_curtains.html
http://www.historicstyle.com/williammorris/wallpapers/goldenlily.html
Dorian Gray.
Leighton’s God Speed hangs on the wall in Sybil Vane’s dressing room. I have a screen cap here:
http://medievalmuse-arteffex.blogspot.com/2010/09/dorian-gray-and-prb.html
There are also Rossetti paintings in the 2005 Woman in White.
To this extremely interesting list, I’d like to add the french film, Les Soeurs Bronte by Techiné (1979). There is no specific PR painting but Branwell’s love interest, Lyda Robinson, is portrayed with long flowing red hair, which is very similar to the preraphealite style. You can check out this clip from 2:05
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDrrF7pSInM&feature=related
I loved this version of Woman in White!! What really jolts my memory is that paisley shawl the lady is wearing…if my visual memory is correct, the character of Lizzie wears something very similar in Desperate Romantics.
I’m going to Netflix this as I’ve not seen it in years and have also forgotten the subtle details. Thanks so much for bringing it the attention it deserves.
Herbert James Draper’s ‘Ulysses and the Sirens’ shows up (reversed and altered) in the movie Coraline, during the stage show of Miss Spinks and Miss Forcible.
Is that the moment?
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2009/02/medium_venus.jpg
Because is it a mix with Boticelli’s Birth of Venus, I think, no?
http://io9.com/#!5146706/solving-coralines-naked-old-lady-problem
Waterhouse’s ‘I Am Half-Sick of Shadows’ appears in the background of an art gallery in season 1 of Queer As Folk, ostensibly set in Pittsburgh, though the real painting is in Toronto.
Here’s the complete first season of Queer as Folk on screencaps!
http://www.qafcaps.com/gallery/index.php?cat=11&page=1
If you could find the exact episode, that’d be neat!
I’m sneaking through all of this, but I am walking as if blind!
😀
See Zach Braff trying on a shirt matching the William Morris paper in his parents’ bathroom in the film Garden State (“camouflage” or “wallpaper shirt” ?).
http://www.leavemethewhite.com/caps/albums/movies/gardenstate/Garden_State_035.jpg
In the 1960’s soap opera Dark Shadows, at least two paintings by Millais appear on the walls of the great house of Collinwood. In David’s room, there is a print of The Boyhood of Raleigh and in another room A Huguenot. How are you doing the screen caps in case I want to try to screen cap scenes featuring the paintings?
Edouard Bisson isn’t a Pre-Raphaelite painter, but a French romantic/neoclassical painter from the Edwardian era. Still, he created lovely paintings of vaguely mythological or allegorical ladies with flowing hair and draperies. His painting Winter (1904) appears in the movie Angel Heart (1987), on the wall of Margaret Krusemark’s home.
Don’t forget those siting in THE UNINVITED screencaps I sent you on Facebook! 😛
No worries 😉 and thanks!! I love your website!
There is what looks like a print of The Light of the World in, of all things, episode five of Blackadder Goes Forth over one of the hospital beds.
Hi
for years in my family theres been talk of a connection with lizzie
my mothers maiden name was Siddall they are from Earl Masrshall rd in sheffield the girls in the family all look a litle like lizzie
regards Jon
British singer Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine is a dead ringer for Elizabeth Siddle dont you think, check out her new album cover i lthink she’s defo styling herself on Pre Raphaelite principles!
Totally! And there’s even a promo pic of Florence for her first album Lungs that has her on a bed and a portrait of Lizzie behind on the wall!
I just love spotting William Morris wallpaper in movies and TV series. My latest was a Netflix DVD of “The Railway Children” done in 2000 with Jemina Roper. In the beginning in the house in London there is “Willow” or Willow Bough” in one room and “Golden Lily” in another.
Enjoyed reading your site very much. Thanks for sharing.
In the new Pixar “BRAVE”, Merida wears one dress based on Waterhouse’s Lady Clare, and another like his version of Ophelia where she wears white with gold embroidery and gems. Oh, and how about the hair! Very Amy Manson Desperate Romantics.
I’ve just remembered a few more:
A scene in vamp movie “Queen of the Damned” recreates the pose from “The Death of Chatterton”, and windows like the ones in Chatterton feature in the first Robert Downey Junior Sherlock Holmes. And Anthony Hopkins strikes the pose of the long-lost lover from “Too Late” in Howards End.
I just saw another one in My Fair Lady – Millais’ Isabella with the pot of basil appears in the room where Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering are getting ready for the Embassy Ball. It’s just behind the Professor.
My bad – it was Holman Hunt, not Millais. That’s what comes of writing post comments while trying not to miss any of the film.
In Lark Rise to Candleford there’s Rossetti’s Bower Meadow in Timmin’s cottage, amongst other pictures of artistic kind.
Do you know which season/episode ?
Alexxx
One of my students shared this with me since I had talked about this in class.
A murderer recreates Millais’ Ophelia in the Eleventh Victim
http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/the-eleventh-victim/video/death-of-ophelia
Morris’ “Willow” wallpaper appears in Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) as does a copy of Millais’ painting A Child’s World/Bubbles.
It’s slow paced, but verrry good acting, and disturbing in a very, very subtle way.
MORRIS POMEGRANATE WALLPAPER IN “VICIOUS” (LIVING ROOM)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6nU4lA9o7o
GREAT SITE!!!!! THANKS FOR SHARING ALL THESE WONDERS.
Cool !!
In the Best Offer ( Migliore Offerta) Jeoffrey Rush hero Virgil Oldman has a secret room full of portraits. At least two of them are of DGR: one is portrait of Jane Burden looking very much alike of Proserpine, another a chalk drawing of Fanny Cornfort, if I am not mistaken. Sorry of no video clipping, but this movie is worth seeing, someone will definitely do a better job
Is one of those portraits you mention in this still ?
http://iloveitalianmovies.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/the-best-offer04.jpg
Dear Alexandra
in that still I do not see any. But the movie is right. I have a link to my Dropbox with the clip http://bit.ly/17RhgO4
so you may check. I have looked through the movie again, and there are three DGR and one Burne-Jones!
I may still have missed some more. In any case the movie is really worth seeing, even without chasing PRB.
Sorry for my previous comment: first portrait is not Proserpine, it is obviously Blanzifiore, and it really better corresponds to the plot, as it is not in Tate, but in Andrew Lloyd Webber collection
Returning to my previous comment: there is third DGR work in the movie (The Best offer)! It is Joli Coeur with Ellen Smith modeling.
Here are some clips from The Best Offer (La Migliore Offerta). It is really nice movie, with a wonderful cast. The main character owns an auction house, and from time to time he rigs auctions to his own favor.
His private collection of women’s portraits includes three Rossetti and one Burne-Jones.
The first one there is La Donna Della Finestra (see in the right corner here https://www.dropbox.com/s/2tsg8beg73y826c/2013_09_05_14_22_28.jpeg ).
It seems that it was not only taken from Fogg Museum, but has also lost it classic frame on the way!
The second is Fanny Crawford chalk portrait. https://www.dropbox.com/s/os6hebtphf7j9gp/2013_09_05_14_24_32.jpeg
The third is Burne-Jones Vespertina Quies (lower right corner here https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8joug45pxgqq00/2013_09_05_14_24_15.jpeg ).
And the last – again DGR’s Joli Coeur. https://www.dropbox.com/s/vl93mkw94jq3sbp/2013_09_05_14_25_30.jpeg
Light of the World. Dad’s Army BBCtv
What a lovely surprise finding this blog! I’m certain I’ll be returning often.
Hi – I see that you spotted the out of period Morris wallpaper in Django Unchained – I think that there were pervasive references to PRB aesthetics as well as to other 19th century painters such as Arthur Streeton throughout the film – whether it was linking Victorian dream culture to the evils of slavery and thus indicting Victorian culture or just making elaborate aesthetic jokes I am not certain. However I don’t think that anyone has mentioned so far a major cinematic sighting of Rossetti in early 2013 – in the Witches of Oz film – an adaptation that green and white dress of Sidonia again – many people loved the dress and I found amongst doll collectors and fans that few knew its source
It is not so much sighting, rather hearing, but in the 3 episode Season 4 of Downton Abbey they quote Christina Rossetti “Remember”
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
I don’t know if you consider it Pre-Raphaelite or not, but Bouguereau’s “Nymphs and Satyr” appears on the wall of a house of – er – ladies of easy virtue, in Season 5 of Mad Men.
There’s an episode of Frazier which I caught the other day and during the end credits , the camera scans Daphne’s bedroom where there’s a painting of Millais’ “Ophelia”. I think it was the one where Daphne had the flu.
Do you know which season/episode ?
Alexxx
the cover of larrikin love’s single “happy as annie” re-creates “the death of chatterton”
http://static.flickr.com/87/243755997_e707c41aa2_o.jpg
Just watched Meryl Streep in the French Lieutenant’s Woman again–I’d forgotten how gorgeously Pre-Raphaelite the whole movie seemed. Be sure to relish Meryl’s red hair and green everywhere.
The 2013 thriller The Best Offer (Deception) stars Geoffrey Rush as an eccentric art auctioneer with a secret collection of portraits of beautiful women – including Burne-Jones’s Vespertina Quies and one of Birmingham Museums’ Rossetti drawings of Fanny Cornforth.
https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/2000/1*6FTi4HIIOmNut3gcs-jQuQ.jpeg
Thank you so much for the most recent addition to this page! I was laid up the other week after having two wisdom teeth out and (well) spent some time in my misery doing a Murder She Wrote marathon, since I was feeling sorry for myself. It’s pretty much the tv equivalent of chicken soup for me: nothing makes me feel better quicker than Angela Lansbury/Jessica Fletcher.
Anyway, I was watching s01e10, and noticed the pre-raph painting in the background, and ended up abandoning the episode trying to track it down, it was bugging me so much. I was pretty sure it was Evelyn de Morgan but wasn’t familiar with the painting, then made myself think it might be Burne-Jones (which was silly, the colours are all de Morgan). Some googling of the painting’s description with de Morgan/Burne-Jones/pre-raphaelite came up with nothing and I was stumped. Finally, I googled pre-raphaelite Murder She Wrote thinking I’d get nothing, and up popped your post, only written a month ago! That was weirdly serendipitous (plus I’m a bit chuffed with myself I got it right before I doubted myself). Thanks so much for solving that for me, and for introducing me to a new painting.
As a sidenote, I think someone in the set dept of MSW got a job lot of Pre-Raph(ish) large format reproductions. A few eps later (in s01e15, in a scene at a magazine’s anniversary cocktail party), I noticed in the background a similarly large reproduction of Herbert Draper’s Ulysses and the Sirens. I love me some pre-raphaelite sirens/mermaids/nymphs so I recognised that one straight away. Not strictly pre-Raphaelite in any sense, certainly, but I at least put Draper in a similar category in my head when it comes to his mythological paintings?
I’m looking forward to seeing if any more make an appearance, since I kind of intend to turn this MSW marathon into a complete rewatch…
Thank you for your comment! Murder, She Wrote is my go-to tv show. I was nine years old in 1984 when the show started and I was hooked even then. I still have a Murder, She Wrote board game I got for Christmas at age ten. Aren’t Murder, She Wrote marathons the best? I adore Angela Lansbury and consider her a role model.
Thanks for telling me about s01e15, I’ll have to revisit that episode and see if I can get screen shots of Ulysses and the Sirens.
Hello, dear Stephanie! I sighted a few paintings in the Masterpiece TV series Mr. Selfridge.
-The Baths of Caracalla (Lawrence Alma Tadema) hangs on the wall in the studio for display design in the offices of Selfridge’s (the store).
-Summer (Albert Moore), the one with the orange-clad trio with fans, hangs in the home of Harry Selfridge.
-The Maying of Guinevere (John Collier) is also in the Selfridge residence. I was able to find a screen shot:
http://d2buyft38glmwk.cloudfront.net/media/__sized/images/galleries/selfridge-2-set-design-test/selfridge-s2-interview-set-design-18-scale-690×390.jpg
-Also in the Selfridge home, Alma Tadema’s ‘Unconscious Rivals’ hangs on the upper level wall of the staircase, but I didn’t notice it during the series itself — only during a ‘behind the scenes’ interview on the Season 3 DVD.
Beauty and peace,
Tess
Well, this is timely! I literally just added Mr. Selfridge to my Amazon watch list yesterday. Now I want to see it even more!
I’m dying to know where the screen-cap image that was reminiscent of a dryad, lying next to a man, comes from. I’m talking about the image which is (I think) around about the 70th image from the bottom of the list. Could some one please tell me? thanks so much 🙂
It is from a movie called Me Without You.
Thank you : )
http://i.imgur.com/VCxDMTf.png
could this be a slightly strange PRB reference, perhaps The Holy Grail there are many Rossetti-ish elements, especially the framing of hair and the face and often extended and twisted neck of Daisy, and even right throughout Chapters 4 and 6 of Hateful Eight, whilst there is a Carrie reference too – the hair is definitely Rossetti and also relates to New Sculpture imagery
The movie “Fire with fire” fron 1986 has Virginia Madsen posing as Ophelia, as painted by John Everett Millais (google it!).
Lovely research/post! Sir Frederic Leighton associated with the Pre-Raphaelites – and his famous ‘Flaming June’ appears on the classic Paul Weller album, ‘Stanley Road’. Also – a modern recreation is on the cover of Vogue. See pics.
https://thelongvictorian.com/2017/02/13/the-peculiar-life-times-of-flaming-june-the-most-wonderful-painting-in-existence/
Hello! Thank you for such inspirational idea!
i write a blog about pre-raphaelites (in russian) and also created album, devoted to pre-raphaelite paintings in movies.
Can I share some of my findings?
– Anime “Gallery fake” (ep. 12) is called “Living Ophelia” and partly connected with Millais’ “Ophelia”
– “Harry Potter” computer games. If you look carefully, you can find “Damsel of Sanct Grael” (“Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets”) and William Morris’ portrait by G. F. Watts (if I’m not mistaken it’s in “Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban”).
– movie “What katy did”. “Cherry Ripe” hangs in Katy Carr’s house.
– “Jeeves and Wooster” tv-series. “Fruit wallpapers” in ep. 1; “La Ghirlandata” and “Narcissus and Echo” in ep.2 and “The Light of the World” in ep. 6.