Admittedly, my interest in the Pre-Raphaelites borders on the obsessive. One of my favorite indulgences is searching for repetitive details, like these earrings: It’s a small thing to notice and I’m sure that the actual earrings themselves don’t hold any real significance other than they belonged to Fanny Cornforth. But small details like this excite … Read more
Autumn Leaves , Sir John Everett Millais. Models: Millais’ sisters-in-law modeled for two of the girls, the other two were local girls, who also appeared in Millais’ painting The Blind Girl. John Ruskin, who incidentally has previously been married to the artist’s wife Effie Millais, wrote about Autumn Leaves, saying: “by much the most poetical work the artist … Read more
I’ve mentioned my love of mirror paintings before: Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus, Viola, Photograph of Fanny Cornforth, Seeking out mirrors, and Preparing for the Ball. It’s understandable if we fail to notice the mirror in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Lady Lilith (previous post about the painting here). Our eyes are naturally drawn to Lilith, … Read more
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, photographed by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). Taken in 1863, the year after the death of Rossetti’s wife Lizzie.
One of my favorite details in Rossetti’s Proserpine is that her lips are painted almost the exact shade of the pomegranate. Those luscious, cupid’s bow lips and the elongated neck are indicative of Rossetti’s later style. It was a time in his life when he was plagued with mental health troubles and personal drama, yet … 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
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
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
A few weeks ago, on a whim, I celebrated the fact that it was Friday by posting a photo of a wombat. Then the lovely Madeleine Pearce (@nouveaudigital) tweeted the hashtag #wombatfriday, probably not realizing that she is only encouraging my childish antics and now I can not stop. This week, the wombat brushes up … Read more
Here at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, Fridays are for wombats. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti You simply must read ‘Rossetti’s Wombat’ at Pre-Raphernalia.
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
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
I was happily surprised this morning when a mundane trip to my local Wal-Mart resulted in a Pre-Raphaelite sighting: A portion of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting La Ghirlandata graces the cover of a computer game called Legends of Fate. I’m tempted to go back and buy it just to see if there’s any art in … Read more
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
There is a problem that arises as you become more and more immersed in Pre-Raphaelite art: it is quite hard to stick to a small, select group of favorites. I think I love them all. I wonder if I am losing my ability to be discerning. My feelings about paintings seem to shuffle and shift … Read more
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
I am excited to share that you may now purchase Kirsty Stonell Walker’s biography of Pre-Raphaelite model Fanny Cornforth. This is by far one of the best Pre-Raphaelite biographies I have ever read and it needs a home on your shelf. This is technically the second edition of Stunner, but even if you already own … Read more
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.
I love this. Via the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood Facebook page, Rosemary Aquilina shared her brilliant discovery of a coloring book version of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s La Ghirlandata: Rosemary says “I spotted La Ghirlandata in my little sister’s coloring book! I was flipping through many pages of this:” “when THIS stopped me in my tracks!” It is … Read more
In two previous posts, I talked about the marriages of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Ruskin. Here’s a photograph of both men, courtesy of George P. Landow and the Victorian web. Ruskin looks absolutely frightening with that stick! June 29, 1863 Albumen Print Downey made made this double portrait during the same session at Rossetti’s … Read more
I’ve spent years reading about the relationship between Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal. One thing I’ve noticed through comments and emails I receive at lizziesiddal.com is that there are a lot of people who are so sympathetic towards Lizzie that they passionately hate Rossetti. When you learn about people, I think a story forms … Read more
There are several things I’d like to share with you today: I’ve been reading some of Rossetti’s notes in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and I like this insight on his opinion of color: Thinking in what order I love colours, found the following:– 1. Pure light warm green. 2. Deep gold-colour. 3. … Read more
If you are reading Mortal Love along with us, you may have noticed that part one of the book is titled The Green Girl. It strikes me as such a perfect phrase when dealing with anything that even remotely alludes to the Pre-Raphaelites. This post isn’t really about Mortal Love, I’ll save that for later. … Read more
In my previous post, I mentioned Rossetti’s doppelganger painting, How They Met Themselves. I wanted to share his drawing of it above, because I prefer it to the painting. This is an ink and wash on paper and is not his original drawing, which I believe was lost. Rossetti referred to it as his ‘Bogie’ … Read more