De Morgan Exhibition

I've been fan-grrling the best-known female Pre-Raphaelite painter, Evelyn de Morgan (1855-1919). There's a small exhibition of her works on long-term display at Cannon Hall Museum, near Barnsley:

It's the posh bit of Barnsley, mind!

De Morgan was related to the Spencer-Stanhope family who owned Cannon Hall, hence the connection. She was a mold-breaker for a Victorian artist, because it she didn't stick to respectable ladylike subjects but scandalised her teachers and critics by painting nudes. Lots of nudes.

Boreas and the Fallen Leaves

I love this picture!

Interesting ... burls ... there

It was really difficult for her even to find models - she used her sister's maidservant and a hired Italian (shocking!) - to pose for Boreas and Oreithyia here:

She was a suffragette, feminist and a pacifist with spiritualist inclinations. Her works tend heavily toward allegory and symbolism. This one below depicts the discontented soul trapped in the physical flesh of the body:

The Soul's Prison House

This one is Blindness and Cupidity Chasing Joy from the City:

catchy title...

Hunted Joy flies through the gate.
Blind Blindness is left desolate.
Cupidity, the city’s fate,

With hungry hounds insatiate,
Stays fettered to a sightless mate.

 Something more cheerful?

Love's Passing

Maybe not... it's all about lovers being parted by death for years and years. But if you are interested, there are many many more lovely works of hers to be found here and here and here.

Cannon Hall belongs to the local council and as such it is FREE to visit the grounds, hall and exhibition!