In 1853, while Lizzie was known as Gabriel’s pupil, she painted in his studio while he was visiting the Scott (William Bell Scott)  family in Newcastle-on-Tyne.  Gabriel mentions this in a letter to his brother, William Michael Rossetti.  I believe that this was when Lizzie painted her only self portrait.  If you look at all of the drawings Gabriel made of Lizzie, I’m sure you’ll find her self portrait significant in that she actually seems to make eye contact with the viewer.  She also has depicted herself in a less glamorized form than any of the Pre-Raphaelites that painted her.

Her self portrait:

The letter by Gabriel:

Newcastle-On-Tyne.20 June [1853].
My Dear William,

I have been here since Friday, and do not exactly know what I mean to do. Let me know what your moves are to be, how long your holiday is, etc., in case we should be able to combine at all—and whether you have any plans about the rent, which is due on the 24th. I think I shall not stay here long, as I find the general stagnation too like the spirit of Banquo, except for a strenuous dog, from whom also I suffer much. David Scott is a tremendous lark.

I want to tell you that Lizzy is painting at Blackfriars while I am away. Do not therefore encourage any one to go near the place. I have told her to keep the doors locked, and she will probably sleep there sometimes.

Tell me any news; I have none to tell. I suppose you are probably at Frome. . . .

I have heard several of Scott’s poems, some very fine, and am going to do the etching for his Rosabell, as I proposed. By-the-bye, I mentioned to him that affair of The Artist, and that they would have etchings; that Brown was doing one, etc.; and he asked me yesterday whether I thought it could be managed to get them to buy some of those Commonwealth etchings of his. They are really very good, but I do not know whether you could mention it at any time. You will know best.
Your affectionate Brother,
D. G. Rossetti.

I suppose, if you write to me here, it can be sent on in case I have left.

"... in 'St Cecilia' Mr Waterhouse has taken another stride forward. There is not, perhaps, the mystery which has invested so many of his pictures with indescribable charm; but there are here greater merits, as compensation, in the composition, fine and well balanced, and a true sense of poetry, in its wider significance of conception, handling, colour, and painter-like quality. The artist's imagination....has been well supported by his generous palette; and his wealth of colour, of mauve and white, of green and blue and red, are resolved into a harmony exquisitely adapted to the subject." - The Magazine of Art via Christie's catalogue notes and Peter Trippi



oil on canvas
48½ x 79 in. (123.2 x 200.7 cm.)

From Didier Rykner of The Art Tribune - an article about the exhibit.

From Matthew Innis - A visit with Waterhouse ...

From Margaret Smith - Enchantment blooms at Waterhouse exhibit ...

From Neil Miley who visited the exhibit at its first location - a review.

12 East Parade, Hastings. Friday [13 April 1860]. My Dear Mother, I write you this word to say that Lizzy and I are going to be married at last, in as few days as possible. I may be in town again first, but am not certain. If so, I shall be sure to see you; but write this as I should be sorry that new news should reach you first from any other quarter. Like all the important things I ever meant to do—to fulfil duty or secure happiness—this one has been deferred almost beyond possibility. I have hardly deserved that Lizzy should still consent to it, but she has done so, and I trust I may still have time to prove my thankfulness to her. The constantly failing state of her health is a terrible anxiety indeed; but I must still hope for the best, and am at any rate at this moment in a better position to take the step, as regards money prospects, than I have ever been before. I shall either see you or write again soon, and meanwhile and ever am Your most affectionate Son, D. G. Rossetti.

So, lately I've been reading a lot about the late Victorian philosophical and cultural movement of Aestheticism. The definition of the movement, according to the Philosophy Dictionary is the "doctrine associated with late 19th-century writers and artists, including Walter Pater, James McNeill Whistler, and especially Oscar Wilde. It holds that the appreciation of art and beauty is the highest aim of human life, and especially that the pursuit of such experience is not constrained by ordinary moral considerations. Art itself serves no ulterior moral or political purpose. The ‘Aesthetic Movement’ was a useful reaction against the didactic religious and moral art of the time and helped artists and critics to concentrate upon the formal and internal qualities of works of art."

Although not all of the Pre-Raphaelites were Aesthetes, their art was rather central to the movement. Rossetti's penchant for purchasing blue and white china started a collecting craze, and in Burne-Jones' biography written by his wife, he lamented that sunflowers had become such a "trend" (they were a symbol of Aestheticism) and emphasized that his love for sunflowers predated the movement. The work of William Morris (and the creation of Red House) is often mentioned in articles on Aestheticism as well.

Anyway, Aestheticism and the Pre-Raphaelites were quite closely related, so this week I wanted to do a few posts on Aestheticism.

First I had to feature this famous teapot. The Oscar Wilde / Patience / Aesthetic teapot (can be found using all three search terms, but it's mostly known simply as the Aesthetic teapot) was made as a reaction to the bold and unique fashion and personality of Oscar Wilde, the Aesthetic Movement's "poster child." Any counter-cultural movement will encounter its critics and its parodies, and one form of parody was this teapot, made to resemble an Aesthetic dandy. One major criticism of Aestheticism was that it was demasculinizing, and the statement made with this teapot certainly would be viewed today as more than a little intolerant. But I have to admit, I find the man depicted on it utterly charming.

"Probably the most famous figural teapot is the "Aesthetic" teapot made in 1882. The clever, two-sided pot depicts a man on one side, a woman on the other. It was inspired by the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "Patience."

The teapot, made by the Royal Worcester pottery in England, is difficult to clean. The handle and spout made pouring tea difficult. The head was the removable cover, and the tea was poured from a hole in the figure's hand."

Written on the bottom of the teapot is the words "Fearful consequences through the laws of Natural Selection and Evolution of living up to one's Teapot."

Note the sunflower on the man's side of the teapot, and the lily on the woman's. All sorts of parodies featured the doe-eyed gazing at these flowers on the part of Aesthetes. Also note the gorgeous smocking on the woman's gown, which was often featured on Aesthetic gowns.

When I read that this teapot was not one-of-a-kind, but mass produced, I thought to myself "well perhaps I can save up and someday purchase one of them." Silly me. After some searching, I discovered a listing on Christies for a teapot that sold at auction in 2001. The final hammer price? $11,163. That would buy a lot of tea.

ArtMagick at YouTube - LINK

ArtMagick

More about Kelmscott Manor from Margaret:
http://www.theearthlyparadise.com/2008/02/william-morris-and-kelmscott-manor.html

http://www.kelmscottmanor.org.uk/
http://www.morrissociety.org/poems.htm#lines

First image courtesy ... William Morris Fan Club

"A small pocket-book of this time [1866] contains a note made by Edward from a canal-bridge in a poor quarter of the city, which nearly thirty years afterwards he developed into the background of his "Aurora." The main outlines of building and canal are preserved in the picture, and Aurora with her cymbals comes lightly stepping along a waterside path from which in the original sketch a woman stoops to bathe her baby, but the canal has changed into an arm of a river and the houses have been welded into the long, low storage-places of a wharf, crowned by a great church lifted up against the sky." - from Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones by Georgiana Burne-Jones

Aurora, 1896
Queensland Art Gallery

"Aurora, the Roman mythical personification of dawn, is here depicted barefoot and with cymbals to wake the sleeping city as a soft dawn light rises behind rooftops and distant trees. ... The face of Aurora in this work is an idealised portrait of Bessie Keene, one of the artist's models." - Link to Queensland Art Gallery note

Reframing Burne Jones 'Aurora' (1896) - an article from the Queensland Art Gallery (Link)

Three drawings of Bessie Keene - studies for the head of the woman in Love Among the Ruins, 1893-94.
Courtesy Leicester Galleries

A wonderful article from ArtMagick prompted my searching today ... Love Among the Ruins ... a Burne-Jones painting in ruins: -Link-

Thanks to Art Magick for letting me post these wonderful Victorian cartoons parodying the art of some artists we may know around here.

Scene at a Hot-Whisky-and-Water House. "Now then, altogether, my piping bullfinches!" Chorus---

A caricature of Waterhouse's 'Circe' taken from an 1891 edition of 'Judy'. 'Judy' was a 19th century satirical magazine, a rival to the better known 'Punch'

A lamentation from the satirical magazine Punch upon reviewing an exhibition at London's Grosvenor Gallery.

From "The G.G.G., or Grosvenor Gallery Guide"

"Once more on our "Gee-Gee," and "yet we are not Hobby!" which might be what the kettle in the fender said to the fire-irons. Now for the G.G. (occasionally) Guy'd. We burn - burn-jones - with excitement to see what that eminent Pagan Aesthetic has to show us. We dash at the Catalogue. We rush at the Busy "B.'s" in the Index. Heavens! From "BALL" to "BYWATER" without a BURNE-JONES. Stay! Is he modestly under "J."? No. JACKLING and JOPSON - I beg their pardons, I should have JOPLING and JACKSON exhaust that portion of the alphabet between them. "What, no JONES! So he died, and she very imprudently," &c., &c.

O where, and O where is my little BURNE-JONES?
O where on earth can he be?
With his tinsel and gold and his sage-green tones,
He's not in this Galleree!

From 'Punch', June 25, 1881


Never fear, Punch found Burne-Jones the following year and came up with another pun:

'Take me, Take my trunk". By E. Burne-Jones, or 'Ty-Burn Jones' for the deadly liveliness of the figures.

Punch, May 20, 1882