Friday Featured Art: View from Shorn Ridgway, Kent

Tony and I were talking the other day about the British countryside and their rolling fields with green hedges and lots of sheep. This painting is called View from Shorn Ridgway, Kent, and is by Ford Madox Brown, yet another of the Pre-Raphaelite artists.

Friday Featured Art: The Light of the World

William Holman Hunt was one of the Pre-Raphaelite painters of the 1800s. He did a piece called The Light of the World, which hangs in the chapel at Keble College Oxford. It is rather dark and medieval looking, but I like the idea. Christ is standing at the door, knocking. The tall weeds show that the door to the soul has long been unopened. I think that the dawn and the stars in the background are very pretty. Holman Hunt painted this picture outside in natural light. We saw his third version of the painting in the Middlesex Chapel at St. Paul's Cathedral (the picture at the bottom is from their site).

Thursday Text: Tennyson Transformed

When we were at the Tate, I saw a book in the gift shop called Tennyson Transformed. It explores the connection between Tennyson's poetry and the visual culture of the Victorian Age, notably the Pre-Raphaelites. The work on the cover is one of the many dramatic depictions of the Lady of Shalott. Fascinating.

Friday Featured Art: The Lady of Shalott

Tennyson's poem, The Lady of Shalott inspired numerous works of art and references that continue to this day. These first three examples are works by John William Waterhouse - a later Pre-Raphaelite artist. The one with the boat is the classic one that you are probably all familiar with. The last image that I've included is a version by William Holman Hunt - another member of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. I love the pose and the hair and the detail. Which do you like best?

Sisters

As you know from a previous post, I really like the pre-Raphaelites. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (who did the painting below) had a sister named Christina who was a poet. We studied her a bit in my British Literature class in college, and one poem stuck out to me. Don't look it up because you probably won't fully understand or like the poem, but the last stanza is worth noting. I have four sisters, so this is for them:

For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather;
To cheer one on the tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands.

The Pre-Raphaelites

One of my favorite movements in art is the Pre-Raphaelite movement of the late 1800s/early 1900s. A prominent figure was Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who painted the picture below. An oft-appearing subject was Jane, the wife of William Morris. Last year we saw an exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum of works on loan from the Delaware Art Museum, which boasts an extensive Pre-Raphaelite collection including this painting and the chair below - built by William Morris.