Pursuing Ellen Terry

I’ve become quite interested in the actress Ellen Terry . One of the most popular performers of her day, Terry was briefly married to artist G.F. Watts, worked repeatedly with Sir Henry Irving, and had a famous correspondence with Bernard Shaw. I happened upon this fabulous video, a rare treasure that shares brief footage of Terry … Read more

Les Editions du Faune

Recently I did an interview with a beautiful French online magazine, Les Editions du Faune.    While it is a French publication, they have published it in both English and French, so there’s no need to use your browser to translate.  It was great fun, a lovely interview, and I’m grateful to Fanny Se for … Read more

True Painters of Light

William Holman Hunt painted The Light of The World in 1853, not too long after the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848.  He used model Elizabeth Siddal to paint Christ’s hair; Christina Rossetti was the model for the head.  It was at this point that we see that Siddal was no ordinary model, for … Read more

More on Keomi Gray

On the internet, ask and ye shall receive.  In my previous post I said that I wanted to learn more about Keomi Gray and, happily, I have. First, my friend Cathy Baker directed me to a few links last night: On Find A Grave, Keomi is listed as Keomi Gray Bonnett, which let me know … Read more

Keomi Gray

In my previous post about The Beloved, I mentioned the woman in the right area of the painting: For the woman on the right, Rossetti used a model named Keomi Gray.  I’ve desperately searched for more information about her, but it’s quite difficult.  There doesn’t seem to be much written about her and if anyone … Read more

Help The Lady of Shalott film be released online for free

The Lady of Shalott film is one of the most beautiful projects I have ever seen.  On an aesthetic level, it encompasses everything I love:  diligence to history and craftsmanship, the poetry of Tennyson, and a lush, cinematic quality that allows you to briefly be cocooned into the medieval world of Elaine of Astolat.  On … Read more

The Beloved

Yesterday, when I shared that a detail from The Beloved can be seen on an ad for the Apple iPad mini, I realized that I’ve never posted about the painting on this site before.  Which is a shame since it is not only a striking work, but unusual.  Unusual in that it incorporates ethnic diversity … Read more

Pre-Raphaelite Sighting from Apple

Thank you to Jack Challem for sharing this little beauty. Apparently, my plans for Pre-Raphaelite world domination are afoot (insert maniacal laughter here).  On this Apple ad for the iPad mini you can glimpse info for the Tate’s Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde exhibit, with a detail from Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The Beloved. Here’s the full version … Read more

The Most Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sighting Yet

Of all of our Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings, this one surprised me the most.  We are avid Netflix users and my daughter and I have been watching Cheers together.  We started at episode 1 a few months ago and we reached season 10 over the weekend.  We just watched season 10’s Halloween episode and you can … Read more

A discussion of Pre-Raphaelite women on BBC Radio 4

Women’s Hour visits the Pre-Raphaelite exhibit at the Tate to discuss the female Pre-Raphaelite artists.  I am pleased with the the attention paid to Elizabeth Siddal. In particular, her illustration of The Lady of Shalott is given a nice bit of attention.  They also talk about Rosa Brett, Jane Burden Morris and May Morris.  You can … Read more

Celebrate PRB Day Online

Are you a Twitter user? The Pre-Raphaelite Society is commemorating the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood by using a #PRBDay hashtag on September 8. You can follow The Pre-Raphaelite Society on Twitter at @PreRaphSoc and visit their website http://www.pre-raphaelitesociety.org/. Also, there is much excitement about the new Tate exhibit, Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde. You can join … Read more

Fanny Cornforth as Fair Rosamund

With the release of Stunner, Fanny Cornforth is happily on my mind.  I thought I’d share one of my favorite paintings of Fanny:  Fair Rosamund by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  This is not the first time I have shared this image here, you can also see Rossetti’s study for Fair Rosamund in this post from June … Read more

Delightful! The Rossettis as cartoon characters

You know I love the Rossetti family, but I have never thought of them as adorable before.  Until I saw the illustrations of Chiara Moriconi, who captures the Rossetti clan delightfully. Here’s a link to the Rossetti album on Facebook, and a wonderful video that introduces members of Rossetti’s circle via chiaramoriconi.com.  

In the News: Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale, Forgotten Pre-Raphaelite Mural, The Cult of Beauty

Liverpool Daily Post: INTERVIEW: Curator Pamela Gerrish Nunn on the forgotten Pre-Raphaelite Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale Click Liverpool: Last of the Pre-Raphaelites:  More than 30 works by popular painter, designer and illustrator Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale (1872 – 1945) have been brought together in the first major exhibition of her extraordinary output in 40 years. A Pre-Raphaelite Journey: Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, opening … Read more

Link Love: ‘Salutation of Beatrice’, Madox Brown’s grave, Elizabeth Siddal’s ‘True Love’

Via Dinah Roe’s twitter (@preraphsrule):  Audio.  Peter Brown, Director of Victorian & British Impressionist Art, Christie’s, discusses Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The Salutation of Beatrice. Islington Tribune: Ford Madox Brown relative joins campaign to clean up Pre-Raphaelite artist’s grave Beautiful, moving, haunting.  Valerie Meachum reads Elizabeth Siddal’s poem ‘True Love’. (If you are reading this through … Read more