Link: The Royal Academy has announced a 2009 exhibit of 40 Waterhouse paintings. Sketches and drawings will be shown as well. June 27 – Sept. 13. From the Royal Academy website: “The exhibition will consider how Waterhouse’s paintings reflect his engagement with contemporary issues ranging from medievalism and the classical heritage to spiritualism and the … Read more
How thrilling! A lost Millais portrait of his wife Effie–found in a dusty attic, no less! Article Link: Lost Portrait Recalls Love Affair
Drawn in 1860 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, this portrait was probably intended to commemorate the wedding of Georgie and Ned (Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones).
‘A Circle of Sisters’: Eminent Victorians (from Amanda Foreman, the author of ”Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire,”) link via New York Times Online.
Georgiana MacDonald Burne-Jones (1840-1920) Georgiana MacDonald came from a strict, God-fearing family. Both her father and grandfather were Methodist ministers. According to Jan Marsh in Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, reading the works of Shakespeare and attending the theater were forbidden and considered sinful in their family on the grounds of morality. ‘Georgie’, as she was known, … Read more
This painting is yet another of Rossetti’s works that depicts a woman playing music. It is also Rossetti’s last major portrait of Fanny Cornforth. I love the blue and white tile background, which is also reminiscent of the blue and white china that Rossetti and others in his circle collected. I highly recommend The Rossetti … Read more
NOTE: I’ve added these sightings to our Pre-Raphaelite Sightings List. Imagine my surprise when Ophelia by John Everett Millais was a focal point of a rerun this weekend on Cold Case! The victims, murdered by an Art History Professor, had been posed to mimic Ophelia by Millais: On the same evening, I find that Grace … Read more
The Manchester Art Gallery is offering a unique opportunity to view some rarely seen Pre-Raphaelite drawings and other works on paper. All of these pieces come from their collection and will run concurrent with their Holman Hunt exhibit. Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Madox Brown and Millais are included. Both exhibits run from October 11, 2008 to January … Read more
Kate Dickens Perugini, daughter of Charles Dickens, served as the model for The Black Brunswicker . The Lady Lever Art Gallery has an extended study of this painting online. Kate, one of the ten children of Dickens, married Pre-Raphaelite artist Charles Allston Collins. Collins’ brother, Wilkie Collins, was the author of The Moonstone and The … Read more
Via Times Online: An exhibition celebrating the Italian origins of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelite painter, and his sister Christina Rossetti, the poet, has opened in the picturesque hilltop Adriatic seaside town of Vasto. The centrepiece of the exhibition of specially loaned paintings, photographs, letters and books at the recently restored Palazzo d’Avalos is Dante … Read more
Century Studios current project, based on Rossetti’s Venus Verticordia Century Studios is currently in the middle of production of their latest commission, a window based on Rossetti’s Venus Verticordia. I encourage you to read their description of this work in progress. So much craftsmanship! Previously, they have completed a similar project, based on Rossetti’s Veronica … Read more
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
Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision will run from October 11, 2008 to January 11, 2009. Held at the Manchester Art Gallery, this exhibit will be free to the public. From their website: Our major new show features over 50 key works by the artist, many on loan from around the UK. It’s the first … Read more
Via theatnewspaper.com: LONDON. A collection of 53 pictures by Burne-Jones and his contemporaries is to go on show at Fulham Palace, ending speculation that it might be sold. The works were bequeathed by amateur artist Cecil French to London’s Fulham council (now Hammersmith & Fulham) in 1953. Since 1983 several paintings have been on display … Read more
A new drama about the Pre-Raphaelties for BBC Two (article link). Hopefully it will make its way across the pond. Fingers crossed! Via BBC News: “The BBC says the six-part series will show the men striving to find fame, fortune and “quite a bit of sex along the way”. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood formed in 1848 … Read more
Jan Marsh briefly describes Annie Miller’s childhood in Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood (not associated with this website) as horribly poor and unhygienic, saying that a neighbor had described Annie and her sister as “dirty and covered with vermin”…and that Annie’s hair was particularly “wild and filthy”. Annie’s mother had died some time after her birth, leaving … Read more
Millais, written by Jason Rosenfield and Alison Smith From the Publisher: As a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, John Everett Millais (1829-1896) spearheaded one of the most radically modern artistic groups in the history of British art. Later in his career, Millais was considered an establishment figure who swapped artistic innovation for commercial gain. … Read more
Venus Verticordia, painting and poem both by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Alexa Wilding posed for the painting, although I’ve read that Rossetti also used Fanny Cornforth. Venus Verticordia She hath the apple in her hand for thee, Yet almost in her heart would hold it back; She muses, with her eyes upon the track Of that … Read more
Ophelia is a captivating character, one that inspired many of the Pre-Raphaelites and other Victorian artists. For those unfamiliar with Ophelia, she is Hamlet’s innocent young love interest in one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, Hamlet. Hamlet loved Ophelia – but after his meeting with the ghost of his father (Act I) he feels compelled to … Read more
Sue Tilley appears in Lucian Freud’s painting Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (a painting that recently sold for $33.6 million). Obviously, this site is devoted to artist’s models who lived mainly in the Victorian era. But Tilley gives unique insight into the experience of modeling, having posed for long periods for many months. The Art & Architecture … Read more
Flora Symbolica: The Secret Language of Pre-Raphaelite Painting* Saturday, May 17, 2008 2:00 p.m. | Click here to register. $10 Members/$15 Non-Members/$5 Students Lecture: During the Victorian age, flowers spoke a secret language to the initiated. The Pre-Raphaelites used this floral code to tell stories and myths, encode personal messages, and celebrate the beauty of … Read more
My creative twelve year old daughter decided that she wants to plant a “fairy garden”. She recently purchased the collected works of Cicely Mary Barker (June 28, 1895 – February 16, 1973). Most people are familiar with Barker’s Flower Fairies, but in case you are not here is a brief bio with examples of her … Read more
Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision Free for attendees and will feature Holman Hunt’s three famous Pre-Raphaelite paintings, as well as original documents and costumes used. Saturday 11 October 2008 – Sunday 11 January 2009
Written by Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Elizabeth Siddal A VALENTINE Yesterday was St. Valentine. Thought you at all, dear dove divine, Upon the beard in sorry trim And rueful countenance of him, That Orson who’s your valentine? He daubed, you know, as usual. The stick would slip, then brush would fall: Yet daubed he till … Read more