Shakespeare began Hamlet with the ghost of a slain king, but if there is a lasting phantom that haunts us from the play, it is certainly the character of Ophelia. She has inspired countless works of art, and each generation attempts to explore and reconstruct her in a myriad of ways. My current rabbit…
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Warning: This post contains spoilers. If you have not seen Vertigo, you might want to back away slowly because I do not want to ruin your experience You have been warned. “Do you believe that someone out of the past, someone dead, can enter and take possession of a living being?”–Gavin Elster to Scottie in…
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I am honored and excited to be in the current issue of Shakespeare Magazine. Huge thank you to editor Pat Reid for publishing my article on Elizabeth Siddal and Ophelia. It’s a gorgeous issue! Read it free online You can follow Shakespeare Magazine on Facebook and Twitter. Visit ShakespeareMagazine.com
In 1857, a twenty-two-year-old woman stood trial in Glasgow for murdering her former lover. It was the cause célèbre of the day and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti declared her too beautiful to be executed whether she was guilty or not, saying, “you wouldn’t hang a stunner!” (‘Letters of DG Rossetti’, Atlantic Monthly vol. 77) Rossetti…
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A breathtaking animated video celebrating the beauty and poetry of Pre-Raphaelite art. Directed and produced by Anna-Ester Volozh. Honestly, I was touched by the delicacy of this work. Absolutely stunning. Watch below. Rebel’s Daydream – Tribute to the Pre-Raphaelites from Dragonbee on Vimeo.
New addition to the Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page. William Holman Hunt’s painting Isabella and the Pot of Basil spotted in Whitechapel. If you are unfamiliar with this work, see my previous post Love, Death, and Potted Plants. Whitechapel is a British detective series. It’s dark and atmospheric with plots that hearken back to historic Whitechapel crimes…
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I posted about Sir Edward Burne-Jones’ painting Sidonia von Bork in 2009, but Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood’s readership has grown quite a bit since then, so I thought I’d revisit it for those of you who are new to this blog. Honestly, when I read some of the older posts on this site, I can’t help but…
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Over the years, the term Pre-Raphaelite somehow took on a life of its own and no longer refers to just art of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, but a bohemian style of dress or a certain physical type. Usually, when I see a modern woman described as Pre-Raphaelite, it refers to her wild and flowing hair. Is it…
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Happening upon unexpected Pre-Raphaelite art and influences while watching a film or reading a book are some of the delicious delights of my life. Curled up in blankets, my daughter and I recently experienced a film that provided several glorious surprises. I’ve added a few new screenshots to the Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page from that moody…
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New addition to the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page. 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.
A new sighting has just been added to the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page. 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…
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An exciting new addition to the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page! 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…
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Forever has become a show that our entire family watches together. I love the premise: A 200-year-old man works in the New York City Morgue trying to find a key to unlock the curse of his immortality. Ioan Gruffud is on point every episode. His character, Henry Morgan, is dapper, elegant, and has a Sherlockian…
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Happy Wombat Friday! This week, our hero the wombat admires Waterhouse’s Flora and the Zephyrs, which can be seen in the previous post The Winds of Waterhouse. March is coming to an end and #MythicMarch has been wonderful. If you are interested in incorporating the beauty if myth into your home life, you can join…
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I’ve added a new entry to the Unexpected Sightings page. ‘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’. To see Pre-Raphaelite…
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New sighting added to the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page! 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. Visit the Monarch of the Glen homepage at BBC.co.uk Thank you to Lisa Gill for…
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When Time magazine asked George Lucas about the unusual hairstyle he created for Star Wars character Princess Leia, he answered: In the 1977 film, I was working very hard to create something different that wasn’t fashion, so I went with a kind of Southwestern Pancho Villa woman revolutionary look, which is what that is. The…
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Here’s a new addition to the Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page. 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…
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New images added to the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page! 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…
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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…
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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…
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Another siting for the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings 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:
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.