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My Favorite Painting
I have always loved this painting, and, in particular, the Pre-Raphaelite artistic period. Until I took a course on the Pre-Raphaelites, I never knew certain things about the history of this movement, and just how incredibly revolutionary it was for its time and in many ways, still is, even now:
For me personally, I was drawn to both the aesthetic qualities, as well as the suffusion of literature (and nature) as inspiration. This was a magical, mystical and wondrous world, in which women were elevated and celebrated.
When I was incredibly fortunate enough to see this painting in person at the Tate in Britain, I was just absolutely transported by the divine beauty and grace of this work; although, reading the details behind this painting (in the link above) definitely gave me an enhanced appreciation of the efforts of both artist and model (Elizabeth Siddal) to create a vision of melancholy gorgeous beauty. As women, we are often told: “You must suffer to be beautiful” and sadly, Elizabeth Sidall did in fact suffer greatly, not just in the posing for this piece, but also, later in life. But her beauty and sorrow remain…
