The Pre-Raphaelites. Robert de la Sizeranne

was the sister of two rich Florentine merchants. In their house, under their command, was the young Lorenzo, who – like all heroes – was quite handsome. The young man and the young woman “could not in the self-same mansion dwell, without some stir of heart, some malady. They could not sit at meals but feel how well it soothed each to be the other by. They could not, sure, beneath the same roof sleep, but to each other dream, and nightly weep.” Isabel’s brothers quickly noticed the drama that was unfolding before their eyes. As they wished to marry their sister to some great lord, and as they lived in that period well loved by poets when one did not back away from even the most dreadful undertakings, they resolved to murder Lorenzo. One fine morning, they asked him to go hunting near the Apennines, “ere the hot sun count his dewy rosary on the eglantine.” They hurried off, passed the Arno, and in a neighbouring forest, killed Lorenzo and buried him deep in the earth.

      Upon their return, they explained that the young man had set sail quickly for a foreign country because of some pressing need. Isabel asked them if he would return soon, but got no reply, and they deceived her every day with new stories. Finally, she had a dream that revealed the truth to her. In it appeared Lorenzo, who said to her: “Isabel, my sweet! Red whortleberries droop above my head, and a large flint-stone weighs upon my feet; Around me beeches and high chestnuts shed their leaves and prickly nuts.” When morning came, she ran to the forest with her old nurse. Her eyes fell upon the knife that had been used in the murder. The two women dug and dug, and found the corpse. Then, the distraught lover, wanting to keep something of the dead man at any price, cut off his head and carried it back home with her. There she embalmed it and hid it in a flowerpot, under a basil plant that was kept green by her endless tears. From then on, she neglected everything and cared only for her beloved basil. Day and night, she cried over the plant, which grew and flowered wondrously. This astonished her brothers, who looked to see what was under the basil, and though “the thing was vile with green and livid spot,” they recognised Lorenzo’s head. Appalled, they fled their homeland, carrying away what remained of their victim. But as soon as she no longer had her beloved plant, Isabel fell ill and wasted away. And finally she died, mournfully asking everyone else who approached her and pilgrims returning from faraway lands, what had become of her basil-pot.

      Edward Burne-Jones, The Challenge in the Desert, 1894–1898.

      Oil on canvas, 129.5 × 96.5 cm.

      Collection Lord Lloyd-Webber.

      Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, The Wise Virgins, 1901.

      Two watercolours on one canvas, upper panel: 37 × 30 cm; lower panel: 11 × 30 cm.

      Christopher Wood Gallery, London.

      This was the drama from which each of the Pre-Raphaelites was expected to depict a scene, rigorously applying the theories of their new school: no imitation of the masters, no generalisation, each figure reproduced from a model and from one single model, outlines as original and individual as possible, painting on an unprepared white canvas, and fastidious attention to detail. In a word, earnestness. But, while Rossetti continued talking away and Hunt prepared by meticulously studying every detail of his subject, Millais had already constructed, sketched out, and finished his painting. For the Exhibition of 1849, in which all three of them participated together, only Millais produced a work inspired by Keats.[12]

      Примечания

      1

      At the Tate Gallery, № 1110. The Spiritual Form of Pitt Guiding Behemoth.

      2

      Ford Madox Brown, born in 1821, died in 1893. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, born in 1828, died in 1882. Edward Burne Jones, born in 1833, died in 1898.

      3

      Harry Quilter M. A. Ford Madox Brown, the teacher of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and

Примечания

1

At the Tate Gallery, № 1110. The Spiritual Form of Pitt Guiding Behemoth.

2

Ford Madox Brown, born in 1821, died in 1893. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, born in 1828, died in 1882. Edward Burne Jones, born in 1833, died in 1898.

3

Harry Quilter M. A. Ford Madox Brown, the teacher of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Holman Hunt. – See also: Ford Madox Brown, Of the Mechanism of a Historical Picture.

4

William Bell Scott, Autobiographical Notes, vol. I, London, 1892.

5

See the entire scene in William Bell Scott. Autobiographical Notes, vol. 1. On Rossetti, read: Joseph Knight, Life of Dante-Gabriel Rossetti, London, 1887, William Sharp, Dante-Gabriel Rossetti, a Record and a Study. London, 1882, Esther Wood, Dante-Gabriel Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite movement. London, 1894, W. Holman Hunt, The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the Contemporary Review, May, June, and July, 1886 and in the Chambers Encyclopedia, F. Q. Stephens, P.R.B., Dante-Gabriel Rossetti, in Portfolio of May 1894, Harry Quilter, Preferences in Art, London, 1892, Myers, Essays Modern, London, 1883, William Michael Rossetti, Ruskin, Rossetti, Pre-Raphaelitism – papers, 1854 to 1862. London, 1899, Edouard Rood, Rossetti et les Préraphaélites anglais.

6

See Redgrave, A Century of Painters of the English School.

7

John Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol. II, ch. III, § 18. Necessity of finishing Works of Art perfectly.

8

John Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol. I, ch. V, § 9. The Imperative Necessity, in Landscape Painting, of Fullness and Finish.

9

John Ruskin. Modern Painters, vol. II, ch III, § 21. The Duty and After Privileges of all Students, 1843.

10

Ruskin’s works were handled by a special publisher, Mr. George Alleu of London, who had them printed far from unaesthetic factories in the middle of fields filled with flowers and fruit. It is even said that these precious books were shipped to London without using the railway, so that unaesthetic steam engines would play no part in their distribution. On Ruskin, cf Ruskin et la Religion de la Beauté (Hachette) and The Life and Work of John Ruskin, by W. G. Collingwood.

11

On the fashion in which Rossetti recruited Woolner, it is interesting to read this comment from Harry Quilter: “It is possible that

12

Nearly every year in London there was an exhibition in the Guildhall of already famous works by great contemporary artists. These works were borrowed from individuals or museums.