The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of artists who shunned the realism that was prevalent in Victorian painting in favor of scenes from literature and mythology. Their paintings are as recognizable for their models, all draped costumes and cascading hair and luminous eyes, as they are for the artists’ signature style. But who were these stunning muses who filled the Pre-Raphaelite canvases?
The Pre-Raphaelite models were fascinating figures that we sadly know all too little about. They were celebrities of the art world in their day, recognizable from the many images of them, and many of them were accomplished artists in their own right. In The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, Jan Marsh constructs the stories of six of the women associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Emma Madox Brown, Elizabeth Siddall, Annie Miller, Fanny Cornforth, Jane Morris, and Georgiana Burne-Jones, through surviving letters, diaries, and records relating to them and their better-known male counterparts.
In The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, Marsh sets out to bring life to the women related to the Pre-Raphaelite movement as individuals and creative participants in the art world, not only as tangential figures to the Pre-Raphaelite artists. There has been a great deal of myth-making surrounding the Pre-Raphaelite women, most recognizably in the tragic life of Lizzie Siddal, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s wife and muse. Lizzie’s discovery in a milliner’s shop and rise to muse stardom, famous relationship with Rossetti, and her untimely demise by laudanum overdose have captured the public imagination and combined with her instantly recognizable images to create an art world icon. As Marsh reveals, however, Lizzie is far more than the pining figure of legend.
Other stars of Marsh’s narrative are Annie Miller, the poverty-stricken London girl who captured William Holman Hunt’s imagination and became the object of his obsession, and Fanny Cornforth, the infamous prostitute who lived for years with Rossetti as his lover and companion. She also tells the stories of three of the (slightly) more conventional Pre-Raphaelite wives, Emma Madox Brown, Jane Morris, and Georgiana Burne-Jones.
As well as their tangled love lives, Marsh explores the women’s artistic exploits. They all contributed to the decoration of William Morris’s Red House, which was designed as an early model of what would become his signature arts and crafts style, featuring paintings modeled on the women and embroideries stitched by them. Lizzie was on the rise as an artist of her own merit, with a patronage from Ruskin and contracts for illustrations. Ruskin discouraged Georgiana’s artistic endeavors, however, though he could not squash her musical interests. Marsh suggests that some of the models, especially Jane Morris while posing for Rossetti, took roles of artistic direction, collaborating on costumes and other aspects of the artworks in which they were portrayed.
As is perhaps unavoidable when subjects have left incomplete records of their lives, Marsh often enters into speculation about the figures’ thoughts, feelings, and actions, though she is open about what is fact and what is mere guesswork. Her moments of speculation make the book feel less scholarly, but also more personal and engaging in its unique approach. By examining the world of the Pre-Raphaelites through a feminist lens, she provides a lively picture of these six women, taking them beyond their legendary roles and making images of flesh-and-blood women with dreams, goals, and passions of their own.
