I’ve amassed quite a collection of Pre-Raphaelite books over the years and the addition of Pre-Raphaelite Girl Gang to my shelves adds something alive. It buzzes with energy and a sense that, just by reading it, we are tapping into a collective consciousness of artistic women whose endeavors richly deserve to be remembered and honored. When the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood formed, they…
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Summer Reading
Sometimes my reading life is haphazard and I dip into whatever strikes me fancy. (The right book, more often than not, seems to find me instead of the other way around.) Other times, I get a great deal of joy in creating an active reading plan to pursue. On Monday I posted William Michael Rossetti’s account of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s…
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Kirsty Stonell Walker on Fanny Cornforth
Today marks the anniversary of the death of Pre-Raphaelite model Fanny Cornforth. She held an important place in the life of artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, yet she has long been derided and dismissed because of her dubious background. Her final years were a mystery until biographer Kirsty Stonell Walker shed light on them. To honor Fanny today, I am so…
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We Are Villains All
Synopsis: 1890, Daneburton, Hampshire: Maud Blake, spinster companion to flighty, young Emeline Hutchinson, is the least important woman at the weekly poetry circle. She sits at the back, barely able to see the poet who presides over them all, but she requires only his words to fuel her dreams. For twenty years Max has lived peacefully in the market town of…
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In which the wombat admires Mnemosyne
Inspired by artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s passion for wombats, every Friday is Wombat Friday at Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. “The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti This week our hero the wombat admires Marie Spartali Stillman. From November 7, 2015 – January 31, 2016 the Delaware Art Museum will be hosting Poetry in Beauty: The…
