FPT>$EM.TS 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 ^0m 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