Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a pupil of Ford Madox Brown and together with Holman Hunt and Millais played a leading role in the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In this painting, begun in 1850 but not completed until 1872, Jane Morris, the wife of William Morris, was Rossetti's model.
The Bower Meadow: Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882).
Proserpine: Also Proserpina, Persephone; a daughter of Zeus and Demeter, abducted by Pluto to be queen of Hades, but allowed to return to the surface of the earth for part of the year (she is also a personification of spring)
Proserpine: Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882). Oil on canvas, 1874
Although Lord Leighton of Stretton is more properly considered a neo-classicist and, as Rossetti said of him, "was wholly opposed to their (i.e., the Pre-Raphaelite credo of art) views", this painting reflects a strong Pre-Raphaelite influence, both in form, content, and execution, despite Leighton's imaginary posthumous denunciations to the contrary.
"Flaming June" (46x46 inches) now resides in the Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico. First exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1895. There is a crayon study for this painting at Leighton House; at least one other is known. The design of the picture was first intended as a decorative bas-relief for the marble bath on which the figure in his "Summer Studies" reclines. Leighton was suffering from his last illness while painting this picture, and he died in the following year. "Flaming June" was on loan to the Ashmolean between 1915 and 1930, but apparently disappeared. It was not publicly known again until its rediscovery in 1963.
It is a delightful painting and owes much to the ground breaking work of the Pre-Raphaelites.
...
Interestingly, one of Lord Leighton's most significant paintings is
that of his companion Dorothy Dene, who later became a stage actress.
She was an uneducated Cockney girl who modeled for the high-living
Victorian bachelor in London.
Although Lord Leighton had consistently
denied rumors of a romantic
relationship with Dene, there was little doubt that one existed between
them...
Flaming June: Frederick Leighton (1830-1896).
The story of the nymph Psyche originates in a tale written by the Roman poet Lucius Apuleius in the 2nd century A.D. The beautiful Psyche was united with Cupid, Venus's son. The word 'psyche' signifies the soul and the nymph is generally shown in classical sculpture with the wings of a butterfly to suggest the soul's lightness. Leighton based the pose of Psyche on an ancient statue of 'Venus Leaving the Bath'. He depicts a moment in which the viewer's eye is caught in the same way as Cupid's was. Her thin, wing-like drapery hints at Psyche as the personification of the soul. Leighton often painted classical subject matter. This has led to him being numbered among the Victorian 'OIympians' - after Mount OIympus, home of the Greek gods.
The Bath of Psyche (detail): Frederick Leighton (1830-1896). Oil on canvas, 1890
An Al-Fresco Toilet
An Al-Fresco Toilet (detail): Samuel Luke Fildes (1844-1927). Oil on canvas, 1889
Sappho
Sappho: Charles-August Mengin. Oil on canvas, 1877
