Eos is goddess of the dawn; she brings forth hope of the new day. She opens the gates of Heaven for the sun to rise, allowing her brother Helios (the sun god) to begin his daily journey across the sky. In the Homeric hymns, she is depicted as accompanying Helios. She is also the mother…
Read more
Dryads are nymphs of the trees. Their connection with the tree they lived in was so strong, they would die when the tree died. Purple irises are at her feet, symbolizing the minor Greek goddess Iris. Iris is the messenger of the gods, particularly Zeus and Hera. She is also the personification of the rainbow…
Read more
I think we can all agree that Spring weather will be most welcome this year.
Tomorrow marks the anniversary of Elizabeth Siddal’s death. For this week’s image, I have chosen The Ladies’ Lament, inspired by the Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens. O lang lang may their ladies sit With fans into their hand, Or ere they see Sir Patrick Spens Come sailing to the land. In The Legend of Elizabeth…
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
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
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
La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Frank Cadogan Cowper, based on the poem by John Keats.
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
Port After Stormy Seas (1905) by Evelyn De Morgan Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, Ease after War, death after life does greatly please. –Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queen I first encountered these lines as a teenager, while reading Agatha Christie’s Dead Man’s Folly. Quoted by the character Mrs. Folliat, the words speak of the respite needed after…
Read more
Georgiana Burne-Jones, photographed by Frederick Hollyer. Circa 1890.
Photograph of Elizabeth Siddal Rossetti. For more, visit lizziesiddal.com
“I mean by a picture a beautiful, romantic dream of something that never was, never will be – in a light better than any light that ever shone – in a land no one can define or remember, only desire – and the forms divinely beautiful – and then I wake up, with the waking…
Read more
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.