Pre-Raphaelites in Love

520 Pages·1989·70.056 MB·English

by  Gay Daly

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I
A
tremendously engaging account ofthe turbulent
relationships between the Pre-Raphaelitepainters
and the models who seemed to embody their
dreams
"d^fr In 1848 a talented, earnest group of
young artists banded together and dubbed
themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brother-
hood. Believing that every rose must be
painted from a live flower and every face
from an actual human being, they set out
to change the course ofEnglish painting.
Inevitably, though, artistic passions be-
—
came tangled with romantic ones with
tempestuous, sometimes tragic, results.
Who were the dreamy, luminous
women who haunt the Pre-Raphaelite pic-
tures? And what happened when these
beautiful girls who consented to model
found themselves idealized and adored by
the men who painted them? Could they
negotiate the passage from goddess to
woman, step down from their pedestals
and into real life?
In this ambitious and immensely read-
able book, Gay Daly draws on a wealth of
original diaries and letters to reveal the
complex, stormy, and extraordinarily
binding relationships between these artists
and the women they loved. The result is a
vivid, intimate group portrait unlike any
we have had before. Compelling as these
stories are in themselves, together they
make up a provocative exploration ofmar-
riage, of the challenges inherent in inti-
macy, and of the fragile kinship between
romance and inspiration.
IN Q-flTin-MSD-fl
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PRE-RAPHAELITES
LOVE
IN

GAY DALY
Pre-Raphaelites
Love
in
Ticknor & Fields • New York
1989
Copyright © 1989 by Gay Daly
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
For information about permission to reproduce selections
from this book, write to Permissions, Ticknor & Fields,
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, New York 10017.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Daly, Gay.
Pre-Raphaelites in love / Gay Daly.
p. cm.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
isbn 0-89919-450-—8 —
1. Preraphaelites— Great Britain Relations with women.
2. Preraphaelitism —Great Britain. —3. Painting, British.
4. Painting, Modern 19th century Great Britain. I. Title.
ND467.5.P7D34 1989 88-28172
—
759.2 dci9 cip
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
987654321
p 10
Quotations from Diana Holman-Hunt's My Grandfather, His Wives
andLoves and My Grandmothers and I, copyright Diana Holman-
Hunt, are reproduced by permission ofCurtis Brown Ltd.
The floral ornaments used in this book are adapted from designs by
Charles Ricketts in 1897. Courtesy ofthe Department ofPrinting
and Graphic Arts, Houghton Library, Harvard University.
The endpapers are reproduced from the wallpaper design "Marigold'
by William Morris in 1897. Courtesy ofthe Trustees ofthe Boston
Public Library, Fine Arts Department.
Book design by Ann Stewart.
For my father and mother,
&
Jack Musto Daly Mary Prussia Daly