Art Gallery Trip

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Next, another black and white pen and ink graphic illustration from her oeuvre, this time At The Sephulcre, drawn for a 1901 edition of Pall Mall magazine. According to the catalogue commentary, it's a depiction of Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb.

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Next, Labour And The Broken Heart (1904-1905), a watercolour that was apparently influenced by George Frederick Watts.

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Next, the commentary page for The Little Foot Page (1905). I've already commented in my opening post, about how this image is routinely associated with the legend of Burd Helen (a heroine from a Scottish ballad, apparently), yet seems to match far better the character of Rosalind from Shakespeare's As You Like It. I've also commented on the stunning botanical accuracy of the foliage. When this painting returns to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, I'll have to let some of the Ratz see it in the flesh, as it were, so that they can marvel at it.

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And here's a detail shot from the same painting ...

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Commentary page for The Statue And The Bust (I Did No More While My Heart Was Warm) from 1908 ...

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And the detail shot of the same painting ...

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Now, another book illustration. This time, taken from Pippa Passes, and Men And Women, by the poet Robert Browning, dated 1908, the illustration accompanying a poem entitled Respectability.

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Next up, If One Could Have That Little Head Of Hers (1909) :

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Now, another book illustration, this time from Dramatis Personae And Dramatic And Romantic Lyrics by Robert Browning, published in 1909. This illustration has its own title, namely Is She Not Pure Gold, My Mistress?.

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Another book illustration, this time from a gardening manual (the book commentary in this image is completely readable, so I've no need to comment further on this). However, the image has its own title, namely Lady Gay Rose, and dates from 1909. This, and several other like illustrations for works of a botanical nature, provide an insight into how Fortescue-Brickdale was able to render the plants in The Little Foot Page with such stunning fidelity - she had been called upon previously to provide botanically accurate illustrations for several books, and this later image merely reinforces the connection.

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And now, Merlin And Vivien (1910-1911), one of several depictions of subjects from Arthurian legend that the artist painted. Arthurian legend, of course, was a fertile source of inspiration for Pre-Raphaelite artists right through to the man labelled "The Last Pre-Raphaelite", namely Frank Cadogan Cowper, who was painting Pre-Raphaelite subjects right up to his death in 1958.

Incidentally, there's a huge Burne-Jones canvas in the Lady Lever Art Gallery depicting the same subject, The Beguiling Of Merlin, which has, as a hilarious subtext, the fact that the model for Burne-Jones' rendition of the subject was one Maria Zambaco, a lady of Greek origin with whom Burne-Jones had a torrid, steamy and tempestuous affair.

Later on, once I've done the catalogue pics, and taken a break for food etc., I'll put up the other Lever pics I shot, which include The Beguiling Of Merlin.

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Another Arthurian subject, this time The Passing Of Elaine (1910-1911).

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Next, perhaps Fortescue-Brickdale's most famous Arthurian subject, Guinevere (The Sombre Close Of That Voluptuous Day) (1910-1911). This work has been one of the few paintings in her oeuvre to enjoy more general circulation and recognition, at least amongst devotees of Pre-Raphaelite art, being covered and discussed at some length in articles (and part of a book) by Jan Marsh.

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And now, the wonderful Portrait Of Winifred Roberts (1913) that I mentioned in my opening post. Any further comment by me on this is entirely superfluous.

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Next, another book illustration, taken from The Book Of Old English Songs And Ballads, published in 1915. This image illustrates a verse from Shakespeare, entitled Who Is Sylvia?.