We celebrate Thanksgiving this week and I have a lot to be grateful for. My greatest blessings are certainly my children and my family, but what I also rate high on my gratitude scale is what I absorb in my soul as I write Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. This blog is a lifeline for me and living…
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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 inspiring season that delights the senses with colors and smells in a way I find comforting. It’s no wonder that many artists and poets have paid homage to it in…
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Artist Walter Crane was greatly influenced by Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelites. His painting The Horses of Neptune is an iconic image depicting the power of the sea. The god Neptune charges forward with his horses, who boldly rise from the waves. There’s not a specific narrative that I know of, but Neptune has long…
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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’ was finished, ‘Venus Concordia’, long patiently waiting its turn, was taken up again. With the three Graces who stand together at the right hand of the Goddess Edward took endless…
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At the age of twenty-one, Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote the short story Hand and Soul, which was published in The Germ, a short-lived magazine created by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Not only does the story offer a glimpse into the young Rossetti’s beliefs and aspirations but it seems to be the only work of fiction…
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Seen above is The Valkyrie’s Vigil by Edward Robert Hughes. Valkyries have been described as ‘dark angels of death’, ‘choosers of the slain’ and ‘spirits of slaughter’. These battle maidens appear on horseback with swords drawn, ready to guide those chosen to die to Valhalla. Usually depicted as warlike and strong, the Pre-Raphaelite-influenced works of…
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Seen above is Lamia, the Serpent Woman by Anna Lea Merritt. Be wary of her beauty, for she means to consume you. In mythology, Lamia is a mistress of Zeus and her affair with him angered Hera so much that she transformed Lamia’s children into monstrous beings. Grief-stricken, Lamia devours any child she finds, thus…
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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 delightful Rossetti and Jane Morris figurine is available from a company called Department 56. I purchased mine on Amazon: Pandora (For a…
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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. Sibyls appear often in art and fiction and I find them indicative of female power and mystery. They represent arcane knowledge of the future, usually sought by someone on an…
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She’s a tragic heroine, so it is easy to see why she has appealed to artists. Even Agatha Christie adopted her name when created her alter ego Ariadne Oliver. Ariadne was a daughter of Minos, king of Crete. She defied her father by helping his prisoner, Theseus, who had been imprisoned in the Minotaur’s labrynth….
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Kirsty Stonell Walker made an excellent point in Endless Digressions on Evelyn De Morgan: she’s such a fascinating artist that it feels impossible to keep a post about her short. Her work is large, vivid in color, and often depicts a spiritual theme or an allegory. And if there’s anything I love, it’s an allegorical…
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The sum total of our greatest fears is the death of the self or someone we love. Since the beginning of time, humans have had the need to not only understand concepts of life, death, and love, but to personify them artistically. When we depict life and death in such a way, it is an…
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Left to herself, the serpent now began To change; her elfin blood in madness ran, Her mouth foam’d, and the grass, therewith besprent, Wither’d at dew so sweet and virulent; — Excerpt from Lamia, John Keats I’ve shared John William Waterhouse’s first depiction of Lamia (1905) on this site at least twice, but I’ve…
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Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse depicts a scene from Jason and the Argonauts. Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas, who was killed in battle by Herakles. Herakles then raised Hylas as his own. Known for both his striking beauty and his military prowess, Hylas was later taken to Argo by Herakles and became…
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Myths are not dry, ancient tales. They are our earliest experiments with metaphor and language. They are truths nestled within layers of mystery and magic that tell us that we can make it if we try. Myths do not lie to us or smother us in platitudes. They openly tell us that bad things are…
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I was browsing a bookstore and found an aisle offering boxed sets of movies packaged with the books they were based on. A little girl picked up Frankenstein and handed it to her mother, who rolled her eyes. “You don’t want that. That’s for boys.” I assume the mother had never heard of Mary Shelley….
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According to myth, after Prometheus stole fire from the gods, Zeus wanted to punish mankind. He ordered Hephaistos and other gods to create a woman that they would endow with gifts and beauty. Hephaistos created her lovely form; the Four Winds breathed life into her. Her beauty was given to her by Aphrodite. Zeus bestowed…
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After my recent post on Dante’s Divine Comedy, I’ve been thinking about metaphorical descents into the Underworld. The rather beautiful Greek word for descent is katabasis, usually used to describe a hero’s journey into the underworld on a quest of some sort. It’s a journey seen in not only a variety of myths, but multiple…
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The Tower of London is marking the centenary of World War I with a breathtaking art installation called ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ by artist Paul Cummins. The installation will include total of 888,246 ceramic poppies, each flower representing a British military fatality from WWI. The tradition of using poppies for remembrance of those…
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After my post about Clytie changing into the sunflower, I’ve been pondering transformations. Lamia is perhaps my favorite example of a dramatic transformation. Based on the poem by John Keats, Waterhouse depicts Lamia after she has transformed from serpent to woman. I adore the vivid imagery of Keats’ poem (She was a gordian shape of…
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Clytie was a beautiful water nymph who loved the sun god Apollo (Helios). Apollo, however, didn’t return her love. The rejected Clytie could not move on and her love for Apollo grew into an obsession. She remained in one spot, staring at the sun as her unrequited love guided it across the sky each day…
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A small pocket-book of this time contains a note made by Edward from a canal-bridge in a poor quarter of the city, which nearly thirty years afterwards he developed into the background of his “Aurora”. The main outlines of building and canal are preserved in the picture, and Aurora with her cymbals comes lightly stepping…
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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.