Pre-Raphaelite Inspiration on Pinterest

Fashions for September 1850

I finally put up a Pinterest board with many of the images of Pre-Raphaelite painting, photographs, settings, and fashion that I looked at while writing Ophelia's Muse. Check it out to see pictures of the magnificent Crystal Palace from the Great Exposition of 1851, the house where the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded, and what a Victorian millinery might have looked like.

I also include many of the paintings both of and by Lizzie Siddal, including her self-portrait and many of the sketches of her that Dante Gabriel made. It's interesting to compare their two views of her side by side.

Upcoming Exhibit: Marie Spartali Stillman at the Delaware Art Museum

Love's Messenger, 1885. Marie Spartali Stillman

I'm looking forward to the upcoming exhibit, Poetry in Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelite Art of Marie Spartali Stillman, at the Delaware Art Museum in November. It will open just in time for my annual visit to family on the East Coast for the holidays! The exhibit is being co-curated by the Museum’s Chief Curator, Margaretta Frederick,  and Jan Marsh, the Pre-Rapahelite scholar. (Among many of Marsh's wonderful books on the Pre-Rapahelites, I particularly love The Pre-Raphaelites: Their Lives in Letters and Diaries.)

Spartali Stillman was one of just a few female artists working professionally in the 19th Century, Spartali Stillman's work reflected both her association with the Pre-Rapahelite circle and the influence of her time living and working in Italy. She studied under Ford Madox Brown, and painted scenes from Shakespeare, Dante, and Boccaccio, among others, as well as landscapes.  She was also a popular model, and sat for many artists of the time, including the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

Hopefully this new exhibit will bring some more positive energy to the Delaware Art Museum's Pre-Rapahelite collection after the unfortunate sale of Hunt's Isabella and the Pot of Basil last year.