I found this talk very interesting the guide was very enthusiastic and informative. With out being reminded you forget that these types of paintings have so many meanings and stories behind them I want to go to more of these talks to find out about hidden meanings in the works for example that red always stands for love etc.
The Walker Gallery opened in 1873 to show the Autumn collection and from this the idea was to make a collection of contemporary art which was bought each year from these collections.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Dante’s Dream, 1871
This painting was based on a poem by Dante, ‘Vita Nuova’. In it Dante dreams he is at the side of his one love Beatrice Portinari who had died.Rossetti was known for representing love in red in this image there are lots of examples of this. Red figure leaning into Beatrice holding an arrow that is pointing directly to Dante’s heart which is wrapped in blossom that has not yet produced fruit which represents that their love had not been full, Beatrice died a virgin. There is a red bird flying in an another flying out of the image showing that love is surrounding the chamber and the red poppies symbolize internal sleep because drugs can be made from them. There is also a flock of red angels in the background carrying Beatrice's sole up to the skies.The green represents hope and mourning.
Rossetti had a long infatuation with Jane Morris and drew her many times even if he was trying to draw other female figures they still ended up looking like her this is obvious in this painting as all four women have similar features, strong jawline, defined lips etc.
Important people such as artists would have been paid in ginnies which was approx. one pound and a shilling. This painting sold for 1500 ginnies.
Everyday workers got paid in pounds.
William Holman Hunt - The Triumph of the Innocents
This painting represents Mary, Joseph and Jesus being escorted by the spirits of the dead children away from a massacre of the young to Egypt. The children are in various stages of conciseness starting from the left were they are just coming round. In the background on the hills there are beacons of light which represents a feeling of urgency in the painting.
Hunt was one of the most religious painters and took it most seriously. In the centre of the image is a perfectly round bubble with a picture in it showing Jacob’s ladder which is a story from the old testament, this is the link to the main image which is from the new testament.
Before Raphael most paintings were religious or medieval scenes not from legends or fairy tale. They had to be true to life and nature no imagination was aloud. For example if it was a religious painting it had to be created in the holy lands not just London.
When Hunt traveled to Egypt his canvas didn't turn up so he used Egyptian cotton. When he came to stretch it on to the frame it ripped down The Virgin Mary’s face he then believed that saturn was working against him.
Most of these paintings have there frame purposely built for the image. This one has pomegranates all the way round. Pomegranates are one unit with thousands of seeds which represents the church many contained with in this one belief.
John Everett Millais - Isabella, 1848-49
When this painting was drawn Millais was only 19 and it was shortly after the three artists founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB). They made jokes about and in their works for example in this image he had PRB carved into the chair Isabella is sat on. They also enjoyed it being a secret society.
This image was based on a poem by John Keats which told the story of love between Isabella a sister of wealthy merchants and a poor apprentice Lorenzo. The whole poem is represented with symbols in the painting. There is a white rose coming from the top of Lorenzo’s head and a passion flower out of Isabella’s showing their love to each other. The two are sharing a blood orange which relates to the later spilling of Lorenzo’s blood. There is a dog in-between her legs showing fidelity and devotion which is in line with Lorenzo.
The evil brothers plot a plan to kill Lorenzo and buried him. Represented by a folcon chewing on features of a white bird which it had killed, salt which is a sybol of life is spilt over the table, one of the bothers is looking through a wine glass at Lorenzo tinting his view red, another brother is kicking the dog and nearly squishing his own with a chair leg. Lorenzo is the only creature in the painting with two eyes everything else is in profile.
Ten days later Isabella had a dream of Lorenzo taking her hand and leading her to the place he was buried. She found the body and brought back the head which she buried in a pot of basil and watered it with her tears.The brothers found the head and feeling so guilty about what they did they took the head and left the country leaving Isabella with nobody.
The shadow created by the nut cracker held by the brother in the foreground looks out of place and is in perfect position to look like his penis this could be seen as a joke by the young teenage artist.
There is a special quality of space or lack of it. On one side of the tale there are 7 people sitting they look like they are over lapping and made out of cardboard this is because the background and foreground are in equal sharpness which makes you think its reallistic but it isn’t how the eye sees it in real life.
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