A Pre-Raphaelite Look at Hitchcock’s Vertigo

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 … Read more

Marigolds, Sacred Flowers for the Dead

Our Halloween revelry is over and now we honor our ancestors with the Day of the Dead.  Throughout Mexico and the Southwestern U.S.,  this is Dia de los Muertos, a special event that focuses on togetherness of family and friends and honoring those who have passed on.  It is a beautiful way to honor the … Read more

Blanche Fury

Over the years, the term Pre-Raphaelite took on a life of its own and in addition to referring to art of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, many people use it to describe 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 … Read more

Seance on a Wet Afternoon

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 … Read more

Pre-Raphaelite Sighting in Deception

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 … Read more

Help The Lady of Shalott film be released online for free

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 … Read more

Rossetti and Ruskin

  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

Pre-Raphaelite Marriage: Ruskin, Effie and Millais

John Ruskin was an an author, art critic, and social reformer who was an early champion of Pre-Raphaelite ideals.  Interestingly, he was also the patron who supported the work of Elizabeth Siddal. His marriage to  Euphemia Chalmers Gray, known as Effie, is universally described as a disaster.  The story goes that Ruskin rejected Effie on their … Read more

The Lady of Shalott film now available on DVD

I am so excited that The Lady of Shalott in now available for purchase on DVD! The DVD includes: The DVD includes: A magical dramatisation of the poem, The Lady of Shalott. Alfred Tennyson (Ben Poole) reading the poem to an 1856 Christmas audience. An interview between Ben Poole (Tennyson) and Grace Timmins (TennysonResearch Centre, … Read more

The Lady of Shalott Film

I was browsing the artmagick forum when I discovered this exciting announcement: “2009 is the bicentenary of the birth of Alfred, Lord Tennyson here in Lincolnshire. As part of the celebrations a major exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite art, including some of Waterhouse’s works, will be shown at The Collection, Lincoln from May.” “WAG Screen is also … Read more

Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings

This page is a work in progress.  If you have a sighting to add, please post a comment or post on the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood Facebook page, send me a tweet on twitter to @preraphsister, or email stephanie@siddal.net. I love Inspector Morse mysteries.I first saw them in the 90s on PBS Mystery! and later on the … Read more