Autumn Inspires

I find Autumn to be healing.  Life takes on a distinctive flavor and the speed may be different, but the possibilities are endless.  It’s an inspiring season that delights the senses with colors and smells in a way I find comforting.  It’s no wonder that many artists and poets have paid homage to it in … Read more

#WombatFriday: Rossetti’s Beasts

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti Last week my worthy assistant T-Dub learned all about Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s exotic menagerie of animals.  He’s still reading William Michael Rossetti’s compilation … Read more

What Grows from Grief

William Holman Hunt’s painting Isabella and the Pot of Basil captivates. It’s a painting that is difficult to walk away from when you see it in person; it’s quite large and Isabella looks so very real that she draws you in as you recognize both her exquisite beauty and her melancholy. Today I was thinking about … Read more

Roman Widow

A beautiful Roman widow plays music beside her husband’s urn.  According to Walker Art Gallery, the marble cinerary urn is based on one Rossetti owned and the instruments were from Pompeian wall paintings.  While I don’t know exactly which images Rossetti used as his source, I did find this fresco from Pompeii via Wikimedia Commons: Most … Read more

#WombatFriday: T-Dub falls for Janey

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti Thaddeus Fern Diogenes Wombat, known to his closest friends as T-Dub, is a worthy assistant here at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood.  He has an active … Read more

Amy

When I first discovered Pre-Raphaelite art, I was a seventeen year old girl with a passion for stories. I was never a feel-good, only-happy-endings kind of girl. I like a story with teeth and a hint of melancholy, stories with layers to unfold and explore. Pre-Raphaelite art is filled with such tales. Twenty-five years later, … Read more

#WombatFriday: The Maids of Elfin-Mere

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti Like Rossetti, Thaddeus Fern Diogenes Wombat has a passion for supernatural tales.  Today I thought I’d introduce him to three enchanting ladies who … Read more

A reading wombat is a happy wombat

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti” Is it Friday again, already?  Huzzah! I’ve just shared this quote with Thaddeus Fern Diogenes Wombat:  “Rossetti was the planet around which we … Read more

#WombatFriday: T-Dub Meets Ruth Herbert

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti Thaddeus Fern Diogenes Wombat (T-Dub to his close friends) is mad about Pre-Raphaelite Stunners.  So, I thought I’d introduce him to Ruth Herbert … Read more

The Imprisonment of Pia

In 1868, Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted Jane Morris as La Pia de Tolomei, who appears in Canto V of Purgatorio in the Divine Comedy. Pia’s story is a heartbreaking. Dante encountered her during his journey through Purgatory, where she remains since she has died without absolution. She says to Dante “remember me, the one who is Pia; Siena made … Read more

#WombatFriday: The Day Dream

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti Thaddeus Fern Diogenes Wombat has been poring over Rossetti paintings in order to be the best Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood assistant he can be.  He’s … Read more

Love and Wombats

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti Thaddeus Fern Diogones Wombat is a willing assistant here at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood.  Sure, he can be easily distracted and he has a tendency … Read more

In Which the Birthday Girl Shows You Paintings

Ophelia, Sir John Everett Millais

Today begins the forty-second year of ME!  ‘Tis my birthday! In Ulysses, Tennyson said ‘I am a part of all that I have met’ and I believe that to be true.  Our experiences add to our depth and the people and things I’ve met in life are part of my story, including the art and … Read more

In which a wombat falls in love with Lady Clare

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti Once again it is #WombatFriday and this week, Thaddeus Diogenes Fern Wombat has been a worthy Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood assistant.  He does have a … Read more

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth Siddal!

The hills grow darker to my sight And thoughts begin to swim. (from Elizabeth Siddal’s poem At Last) Lizzie was discovered in millinery shop, a simple girl who was tall for the time and had a mass of red-gold hair. Her first sitting was for Walter Deverell’s Twelfth Night. On this day in 1829, Elizabeth Eleanor … Read more

#WombatFriday with Cleopatra

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti Thaddeus Fern Diogenes Wombat is a sleepy bloke today, but knowing his love for history and drama I’ve chosen to wake him up … Read more

Emma Sandys

Pictured above is  A Lady Holding a Rose by Emma Sandys.  Sadly little is known about  Sandys in comparison to her more famous brother, Frederick.  I recommend Serena Trowbridge’s post The Mysterious Emma Sandys.  (If you are unfamiliar with Serena’s blog, Culture and Anarchy, I’m just going to go ahead and suggest that you should bookmark … Read more

#WombatFriday: A New Chapter

Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti In 2013, on a whim, I started Wombat Friday.  For four years I have faithfully posted photos of toy wombats with Pre-Raphaelite art … Read more

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter

One of my favorite posts on this site is Monstrous Women, where I briefly discuss my admiration for not only Mary Shelley, but women in fiction and myth that can be considered monstrosities.  They pop up on Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood repeatedly.  Lamia, for example, or Sidonia and  Medusa.   The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter … Read more