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
I am honored and excited to be in the current issue of Shakespeare Magazine. Huge thank you to editor Pat Reid for publishing my article on Elizabeth Siddal and Ophelia. It’s a gorgeous issue! Read it free online You can follow Shakespeare Magazine on Facebook and Twitter. Visit ShakespeareMagazine.com
In 1857, a twenty-two-year-old woman stood trial in Glasgow for murdering her former lover. It was the cause célèbre of the day and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti declared her too beautiful to be executed whether she was guilty or not, saying, “you wouldn’t hang a stunner!” (‘Letters of DG Rossetti’, Atlantic Monthly vol. 77) Rossetti … Read more
A breathtaking animated video celebrating the beauty and poetry of Pre-Raphaelite art. Directed and produced by Anna-Ester Volozh. Honestly, I was touched by the delicacy of this work. Absolutely stunning. Watch below. Rebel’s Daydream – Tribute to the Pre-Raphaelites from Dragonbee on Vimeo.
New addition to the Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page. William Holman Hunt’s painting Isabella and the Pot of Basil spotted in Whitechapel. If you are unfamiliar with this work, see my previous post Love, Death, and Potted Plants. Whitechapel is a British detective series. It’s dark and atmospheric with plots that hearken back to historic Whitechapel crimes … Read more
I posted about Sir Edward Burne-Jones’ painting Sidonia von Bork in 2009, but Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood’s readership has grown quite a bit since then, so I thought I’d revisit it for those of you who are new to this blog. Honestly, when I read some of the older posts on this site, I can’t help but … Read more
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
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
New addition to the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page. Season 17, episode 1 of Law and Order: SVU included Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Belcolore and Lady Lilith. It’s not a spoiler to tell you that the art in the killer’s home reflects his obsession with red hair.
A new sighting has just been added to the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page. Episode 10 of the first season of Murder, She Wrote shows Aurora Triumphans by one of my favorite female Pre-Raphaelites: Evelyn De Morgan. Aurora Triumphans currently hangs in the Russell-Cotes Gallery. In this episode, a villainous owner of an amusement park tries … Read more
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
Forever has become a show that our entire family watches together. I love the premise: A 200-year-old man works in the New York City Morgue trying to find a key to unlock the curse of his immortality. Ioan Gruffud is on point every episode. His character, Henry Morgan, is dapper, elegant, and has a Sherlockian … Read more
Happy Wombat Friday! This week, our hero the wombat admires Waterhouse’s Flora and the Zephyrs, which can be seen in the previous post The Winds of Waterhouse. March is coming to an end and #MythicMarch has been wonderful. If you are interested in incorporating the beauty if myth into your home life, you can join … Read more
I’ve added a new entry to the Unexpected Sightings page. ‘Reverie’ by Dante Gabriel Rossetti can be seen in the background of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This is Mr. Pitt’s apartment, where the character Elaine works as Mr. Pitt’s personal assistant. Sixth episode of the sixth season of Seinfeld, titled ‘The Gymnast’. To see Pre-Raphaelite works … Read more
New sighting added to the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page! Monarch of the Glen: Archie MacDonald, a young restaurateur is called back to his childhood home of Glenbogle where he is told he is the new Laird of Glenbogle. —via IMDB. Visit the Monarch of the Glen homepage at BBC.co.uk Thank you to Lisa Gill for … Read more
When Time magazine asked George Lucas about the unusual hairstyle he created for Star Wars character Princess Leia, he answered: In the 1977 film, I was working very hard to create something different that wasn’t fashion, so I went with a kind of Southwestern Pancho Villa woman revolutionary look, which is what that is. The … Read more
Here’s a new addition to the Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page. I was watching an episode of America Unearthed recently and was surprised to see Frederick Sandys’ painting Mary Magdalene. I see Pre-Raphaelite images used all the time on television, but the use of Mary Magdalene was an unusual choice in this particular case. Mary Magdalene was used … Read more
New images added to the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings page! Thank you to Alexandrion Drallipo for discovering these images. William Morris’ Larkspur wallpaper in Finding Neverland: William Morris’ Willow pattern wallpaper in the TV series Justified: William Morris Windrush wallpaper in Django Unchained: Thank you to Lisa Gill for noticing The Crystal Ball by … Read more
I’ve been quite busy this week. I’m working on a post about White Rose and the Red for LizzieSiddal.com. Written by modernist HD, White Rose and the Red is a fictional account of Elizabeth Siddal’s life. To be honest, when I first read it, I did not enjoy it. I felt mentally exhausted. But, after … Read more
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
Of all of our Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings, this one surprised me the most. We are avid Netflix users and my daughter and I have been watching Cheers together. We started at episode 1 a few months ago and we reached season 10 over the weekend. We just watched season 10’s Halloween episode and you can … Read more
Another siting for the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings list. Alexandrion Drallipo has noticed a William Morris wallpaper pattern in the movie Nim’s Island. This is the Arbutus pattern, seen here in screen caps:
Matthew Cain, Culture Editor at Channel 4, delivers a wonderful and thought provoking piece on Emma Thompson’s new movie Effie and the possibility that it may renew interest in Pre-Raphaelite art. He says,“In 2012, we’re so familiar with the work of the Pre-Raphaelites that it’s easy to forget just how radical and revolutionary they were. … Read more
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
Alexandrion Drallipo (and her excellent Pre-Raphaelite eye) has once again given me a wonderful sighting for the Unexpected Pre-Raphaelite Sightings list. Thanks for the screen cap! This is from The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) with Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo. Unfortunately, my mind has gone blank and I can’t identify the painting. It looks like … Read more