I confess that Clare Mackail, youngest granddaughter of Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones, had previously been a mere blip on my radar. That is, of…
‘See me, and know me as I am.’ At the age of twenty-one, Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote the short story Hand and Soul, which was…
In The Shape of My Heart, I shared that I like to blend seemingly unrelated works of art much like one would pair wine with…
For me, myths are a touchstone, a framework that helps me work out some of life’s thorniest dilemmas. Recently, I’ve been dealing with a series…
As I pursue the Pre-Raphaelites, I find it is the small details that captivate me, pulling me further and further down the rabbit hole. One…
Today has been cold and grey, the kind of day that makes me want to do nothing other than curl up and read. I’ve been…
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…
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…
Today I have been pondering allegories of love in art. Namely, the choices artists make when representing the concept of Love in physical form. It…
Sponsa de Libano is inspired by the Song of Solomon: ‘Awake O North wind; and come then south; blow upon my garden that the spices…
In her memorials of her husband, Georgiana Burne-Jones gives us a glimpse into the creation of Venus Concordia (pictured above). “After ‘The Fall of Lucifer’…
In 1891, William Morris founded the Kelmscott Press in an effort to realize his vision of creating exquisitely crafted books. Joining him in this endeavor…
Have you ever noticed that Pandora is a lot like Eve? Eve is to blame for being cast out of Eden, Pandora is to blame…
The works of John William Waterhouse often blend feminine beauty and mystery. Above is Circe Invidiosa, his depiction of the goddess Circe. With a sumptuous blend…
“There’s always a siren singing you to shipwreck.” – Radiohead, “There, There” Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse depicts a scene from Jason…
If you’re interested in studying the Victorian era seriously, then diaries and letters are important. At times I feel like a 21st-century snoop, devouring personal…
Above is a detail from Arthur Rackham’s illustration of Pan from The Wind in the Willows. I first became enchanted by Pan when, as a little…
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…
Georgiana Burne-Jones, wife of artist Edward Burne-Jones, was a devoted wife and mother. Her love for her husband and children is obvious when reading any…
“I do not know exactly where to place a class of drawings for which Edward was famous in our closest circle. We called them “Bogey…
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s portrayal of the Annunciation is a continuation of the theme begun in his painting The Girlhood of Mary Virgin. The moment that…
In a post a few years ago, I said that my love of Pre-Raphaelite art probably stems from my lifelong love of stories. Much of…
sib·yl: noun a woman in ancient times supposed to utter the oracles and prophecies of a god. literary a woman able to foretell the future.…
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…
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…
