Today is the birthday of artist Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, the artist who was the genesis of my interest for the Pre-Raphaelites when, at the age of seventeen, I first saw The Beguiling of Merlin. I’m forty now. Having spent my entire adult life in the throes of Pre-Raphaelite passion, I look back and realize…
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Sir Edward Burne-Jones used Fanny Cornforth as a model for his unfinished painting, Hope, above. Although incomplete, it remains one of my favorite paintings of Fanny. As Jan Marsh points out in Pre-Raphaelite Women: Images of Femininity in Pre-Raphaelite Art, in Hope it is possible to ‘appreciate the ‘fine regular features’ that attracted so many admirers before her…
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When I was fifteen years old, my father taught me how to drive. I was eager, yet scared; I couldn’t believe that I had actually passed the test to get my learner’s permit. Dad wanted to give me ample opportunity to practice before beginning Driver’s Ed at school, so we drove together often. He’d pick…
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Recently, an unknown study for Leighton’s Flaming June was discovered. The discovery was almost cinematic: Pre-Raphaelite study discovered behind door in English mansion. After the discovery, the sketch sold for a whopping £135,000 through Sotheby’s. I have a rather large framed print of Flaming June in my bedroom, so it is an image I see daily, although I…
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I am honored that Kris Waldherr has taken the time to share about the beauty of Venice and its influence on the Pre-Raphaelite circle. That same influence is echoed within the pages of The Lover’s Path, which I think fellow Pre-Raphaelite enthusiasts will love. Guest Post: Pre-Raphaelites in Venice by Kris Waldherr “There was never…
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The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is currently preparing their latest exhibit: Love is Enough: William Morris and Andy Warhol: Love is Enough draws together iconic and rarely seen works by two giants of the 19th and 20th centuries – William Morris and Andy Warhol. The Birmingham showing of this exhibition will see Birmingham Museum…
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Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse depicts a scene from Jason and the Argonauts. Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas, who was killed in battle by Herakles. Herakles then raised Hylas as his own. Known for both his striking beauty and his military prowess, Hylas was later taken to Argo by Herakles and became…
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It’s Mythic March! Created by my friends Grace Nuth and Lisa Stock, its premise is similar to NaNoWriMo: spend a month incorporating the beauty of myth into your daily life. Many participants will use the opportunity to get creative and embark on new projects and crafts. I’d like to use this month to look at how…
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I was browsing a bookstore and found an aisle offering boxed sets of movies packaged with the books they were based on. A little girl picked up Frankenstein and handed it to her mother, who rolled her eyes. “You don’t want that. That’s for boys.” I assume the mother had never heard of Mary Shelley….
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“I have been working very hard in spite of all things, and I hope to finish the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and the ‘Hours’. I think you never saw the last–not a big picture, about five feet long–a row of six little women that typify the hours of day from waking to sleep. Their little knees…
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The day has its own bright beauty. Morning may bring the possibility of a new beginning, but at night, everything slows down and the world takes on a different mood. Night wears a deeper hue, things become varying shades of blues and purples. It’s a slower form of beauty. Introspective and melancholy. Is it any wonder…
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Sir Edward Burne-Jones’ painting King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid is based on the story of an African King who had never felt any attraction towards women until he spotted a beggar woman. In this tale of love at first sight, King Cophetua declares that despite her low social standing, she will be his queen….
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According to myth, after Prometheus stole fire from the gods, Zeus wanted to punish mankind. He ordered Hephaistos and other gods to create a woman that they would endow with gifts and beauty. Hephaistos created her lovely form; the Four Winds breathed life into her. Her beauty was given to her by Aphrodite. Zeus bestowed…
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I am guilty of often overlooking Burne-Jones’ portrait work in favor of his narrative paintings. However, this morning I read a passage in which his wife discusses the artist’s opinions of the use of expression in his portraits: Another portrait painted this year, that of Miss Fitzgerald, a young American girl. The art of portraiture…
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In Listening to my Sweet Pipings, Waterhouse has shown the figure of Earth reclining as Pan serenades her. Notice that Earth holds a poppy in her hand while Pan wears one in his hair. The title of Waterhouse’s painting is taken from Hymn of Pan by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The notion of Nature as feminine…
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In Rossetti’s 1853 drawing Boatmen and Siren, one of the boatmen is captivated by the siren, but is saved from certain death by his companion. The accompanying inscription was written by Jacopo da Lentino, a Italian poet of the Rennaissance era whose work was translated by Rossetti in The Early Italian Poets: I am broken,…
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Le Morte d’Arthur captivated Edward Burne-Jones. His passion for all things Arthurian dated back to his days as an undergraduate at Oxford, when he and close friend William Morris would read the tales together. Burne-Jones painted Arthurian subjects several times in his career, including the famous The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon. Merlin was…
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A small pocket-book of this time contains a note made by Edward from a canal-bridge in a poor quarter of the city, which nearly thirty years afterwards he developed into the background of his “Aurora”. The main outlines of building and canal are preserved in the picture, and Aurora with her cymbals comes lightly stepping…
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Burne-Jones’ painting The Mirror of Venus is a celebration of female beauty. Ten women, often identified as Venus and her attendants, gather around their own watery reflections. The landscape is no rival for their beauty — it’s a bleak land that was described by author Christopher Wood as ‘strangely lunar’. The painting doesn’t offer us…
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Women are central figures in Pre-Raphaelite art and this has given us the concept of a “Pre-Raphaelite Woman”. I frequently see the term ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ in occasional news articles, usually describing an actress or singer with long curly hair. Florence Welch is often described as Pre-Raphaelite and it’s definitely a look she has embraced. But was there…
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Fatima was painted by Sir Edward Burne-Jones in 1862 and depicts the last wife of Bluebeard, the ancient serial killer who has the bodies of his previous wives hidden away. You can read an annotated version of Charles Perrault’s Bluebeard online at SurLaLune Fairy Tales. (Originally published in January 1697) Bluebeard hails from the days when children’s…
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According to Georgiana Burne-Jones’ memorials of her husband, the model for Astrologia was Miss Augusta Jones. I love the reflection seen on the crystal ball; if you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that mirrored images are favorite details of mine. (Seeking out mirrors, Viola, Circe, The Impossible Mirror of Lady Lilith,…
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These pre-shrunk Gildan brand shirts feature an image of Elizabeth Siddal at an easel, painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Buy yours today! Thank you for supporting PreRaphaeliteSisterhood.com. You can also follow on Twitter and Facebook.