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, … Read more
As I mentioned in Rossetti and the art of death, Edgar Allan Poe was a great influence on DGR’s work. The Raven is a prime example of Poe’s poetry influencing Rossetti’s. It was a catalyst for The Blessed Damozel, where Rossetti reversed the conditions of The Raven in order to tell the story from the deceased lover’s … Read more
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 … Read more
That Summer was tremendous fun to read, especially if you have an interest in the Pre-Raphaelites. Lauren Willig adroitly weaves together two tales that take place in two different time periods: one in 1849, the other in 2009. In 2009, Julia Conley unexpectedly inherits a house outside of London. Herne Hill is a family home … Read more
William Holman Hunt’s Isabella and the Pot of Basil is currently in the news with the recent announcement that the Delaware Art museum will be auctioning the painting tomorrow. The work has been in their collection since 1947 and it is sad news indeed that the Delaware has to sell it and three other works … Read more
This week, Wombat Friday falls on Friday the 13th AND a full moon. Our wombat hero visits Luna by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. You can follow the weekly #wombatfriday madness on Twitter (here’s the #wombatfriday hashtag link; you can follow me on Twitter as @beguilingmerlin). If you are a Facebook user, connect with me on the … Read more
The scene where Queen Gertrude describes Ophelia’s death in Hamlet is one of the most poignant moments in Shakespeare’s play. When John Everett Millais painted Ophelia he chose to depict her in the moments just before she drowns. Ophelia is a shining example of the Pre-Raphaelite artist’s desire to depict truth in nature. In the … Read more
Women are central figures in Pre-Raphaelite art, and this has given rise to the concept of a “Pre-Raphaelite Woman.” I frequently see the term in the media, usually describing an actress or singer with long curly hair. Florence Welch is often described as Pre-Raphaelite, a look she has embraced. But was there a unified ideal? If we look … Read more
“To start with I was nothing, but then the merest sweep of his pencil gave a hint of what I could become.” –A Curl of Copper and Pearl I’ve spent almost my entire adult life pursuing the Pre-Raphaelites, but never have I felt so immersed in their world as I did while reading this book. … Read more
If you are looking for Shakespeare inspiration today, you are in luck! Visit happybirthdayshakespeare.com for a large collective of bloggers sharing posts in honor of the day! In celebration of the Bard’s birthday, here’s a post from the archives: King Lear is a tragic play filled with anger and grief. It is wrought with suffering and … Read more
The Poem: Drawing inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The Blessed Damozel explores the theme of lovers separated by death. Like Poe’s Lenore, the damozel (an archaic form of damsel) has died and Rossetti introduces her to us as she looks down upon her lover from heaven. Rossetti later told Hall … Read more
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 … Read more
Scottish author James Hannay once described his wife Margaret as the ‘sugarplum of the universe’. Dante Gabriel Rossetti captured the sugarplum’s beauty in the sketch above, drawn a few weeks before the couple wed. Margaret also appears as Beatrice in the original watercolor Dante’s Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice (1856). … Read more
Dante Gabriel Rossetti is making headlines with the recent news that Pandora will be part of the Sotheby’s sale of British and Irish art on May 22. With a price tag of £7 million. More than one version of Pandora exists. Each is a captivating representation of Jane Morris. I blogged about my favorite in the post … Read more
In 1859, Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted Bocca Baciata and it was a radical change for him in style. Afterwards, his work gravitated towards images of a single female, quite often depicted from the bust up and surrounded by flowers, jewelry, and other symbolic objects. Why the change? In the late 1850’s Rossetti had definitely matured … Read more
Seven years after her death, the coffin of Elizabeth Siddal was exhumed so that her husband, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, could publish the poetry he had buried with her. It was a secret act, yet eventually the deed came to be known and has added a macabre tinge to the tale of Elizabeth Siddal. Rossetti … Read more
Head of Mrs Eaton served as a study for A Sybil. Joanna Boyce Wells was planning A Sybil for the Royal Academy in 1862. but it was left unfinished at the artist’s death. Several of Wells’ works were later destroyed during a World War II bombing in Bath. Fanny Eaton sat for several artists and … Read more
Jane Burden and her sister Bessie were attending a theatre performance when they were spotted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones. When Gabriel asked Jane to model for them, her initial answer was yes–although later she failed to appear. Burne-Jones was apparently able to convince Jane and her family that their intentions were respectable … Read more
In 1849, the newly formed Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood decided to start a magazine to help support and explain their artistic perspective. The Germ had a short run of only four issues, with the final two issues appearing under the title Art and Poetry: Being Thoughts towards Nature Conducted Principally by Artists. In 1898, an American named … Read more
Water Willow is one of my favorite depictions of Jane Morris by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Her face has a tender, graceful appearance. The setting is sentimental; DGR and Jane used to take walks in the area around Kelmscott. Kelmscott Manor can be seen in the left top corner of the canvas, Kelmscott church is in … Read more
In De Morgan’s painting, we see Demeter as she mourns the loss of her daughter. Stricken with grief, she clasps her head–surrounded by shafts of wheat, denoting Demeter’s role as goddess of the harvest. The tale of Demeter and Persephone personifies the depth of a mother’s love. It is a myth about the death and … Read more
Macbeth is such a powerful play that we fear invoking the name of it in the theatre. It’s one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies and with so many dramatic elements, I’m surprised that the Pre-Raphaelites did not illustrate it more. Murder, greed, ambition, fear…Macbeth has it all. The Rossetti drawing above is a preliminary study for … Read more
The Sleeping Model by William Powell Frith is a work that I find incredibly interesting. The tedious act of sitting for the artist has caused the model to fall asleep. Undeterred by her slumber, he paints her face as if she is awake. The mannequin sprawled in the corner behind her seems curiously alert. It’s … Read more
Note the blue and white china in the background. It was highly sought after by both Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Burne-Jones. Elizabeth Siddal casually referenced this in a brief message to Georgiana Burne-Jones: My Dear Little Georgie, I hope you intend coming over with Ned to-morrow evening like a sweetmeat, it seems so long since … Read more