The Trouble With Ruskin

 

 

Actually, after I did this cartoon I discovered that John Ruskin always wore a white waistcoat which can be fixed later on in the inked version.

I had also played with the idea of Christina Rossetti emerging with her vengeful canvas whenever someone made a sexist comment. So far, this is only her second assault.

 

I first discussed Elizabeth Siddal's difficulties with Ruskin as a patron here.  Ruskin was indeed a stout advocate of artistic education for women and he was also very enthusiastic about Lizzie's potential, buying all the art she had produced upon seeing it. He proposed an allowance for her, along with his own instruction which included drawing lots of rocks. 

(Ruskin was a huge fan of drawing rocks.)

 

Lizzie preferred to learn from Dante Gabriel Rossetti who was a much more laid-back teacher, who like herself worked mostly from intuition rather than from any academic training. According to Rossetti, she was at first reluctant to take an allowance from Ruskin, but when she finally consented, she used her first payment to buy art supplies.

 

Ruskin advised her not draw from her imagination (which she loved to do).

 He meant for her to hone her drawing skills, but it was deadly dull for Lizzie all the same.

 

Rossetti did many, many studies of Lizzie at work
including the one below inwhich he draws
 himself modeling for her.
 

 

 "Don't forget to make my hair look fabulous and windswept."

Hmm, this one should be familiar to ALL of you!

 

According to Pamela Gerrish Nunn and Jan Marsh's excellent Women Artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, Ruskin considered life as a Pre-Raphaelite artist too overpowering for Lizzie's "feminine" nature and he frequently sent her away to warm climates, telling her not to overtax herself by doing any artwork at all.

 

This was obviously frustrating for her since the whole point of Ruskin's patronage was for her to become a better artist and to continue to produce paintings and drawings. Nevertheless, Lizzie still managed to rebel by continuing to draw and teaching herself to paint, as well as working from her imagination. Despite a tumultuous time in her relationship with Rossetti, this was her most productive period and she exhibited her artwork publicly alongside the male Pre-Raphaelite artists.

 

John Ruskin

"Please... let's not bring up Effie Gray again. I would be most grateful."

To be fair, Ruskin, (who was full of contradictions just like any other human being) was of course very capable of enlightened ideas (although approaching them from the position of someone with money and privilege.)  He was a generous man who offered financial assistance and education to the poor. He also advocated superior education for women ("Let girl's education be as serious as a boy's"). Despite dismissing the need for women's rights, he did reply that if women were supposed to be obedient and unquestioningly servile to men, it was akin to them being slaves. (This was bad.)

 

However...

 

There was his comment on a popular female artist:

 

"I never approached a picture with more iniquitous prejudice against it than I did Miss Thompson's, partly because I have always said that no woman could paint; and secondly, because I thought what the public made such a fuss about must be good for nothing."

                             And his actual advice to an aspiring woman artist:

"You must resolve to be a great paintress; there never having been such a being as a lady who could paint."

 (Actually, there were quite a lot of ladies over the centuries who could paint that Mr. Ruskin seemed to have missed.)



Georgie Burne-Jones
What she might have thought
(but was too polite to say out loud):

"Well, thanks for that, Mr. Ruskin.
Never mind that I might want to
 cut my own drawings..."

 

He dismissed Georgie Burne-Jones' woodcutting attempts as something that would not "interfere with any motherly care or duty. I can't imagine anything prettier or more useful than cutting one's husband's drawings on a woodblock."

Despite this condescending remark, Georgiana and her husband Ned would remain quite fond of and loyal to Ruskin all their lives. One of Ruskin's acts of spontaneous generosity was to the Burne-Jones family when their second infant died, with Georgie nearly dying as well: he paid for the street infront of their house to be covered in hay to muffle the noise of passing carriages so that Georgie could rest and recover.

Of course, from the point of view of the 21st century, Ruskin's sexism seems crass. (As does this rejection letter from Disney Studios to a female artist in 1938 which basically tells her "No girls allowed".) To see a dismissal of women artists in actual print or said aloud is infuriating to our modern ears.

But Lizzie and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood put up the good fight.

The Lady of Shallot
Elizabeth Siddal

Coming up next: The Stünners in concert!

 

Happy Birthday, Kirsty!

Happy (belated) birthday to Kirsty Walker-- you know her here, of course:
                             http://fannycornforth.blogspot.com/

The above cartoon features my excuse to draw Fred Stephens again, with Fanny Cornforth urging him on. Annie Miller and Alexa Wilding, whom I've never drawn before, are conspiring in the background.

Oh, and of course, ubiquitous Top the Wombat.

Fanboy Rossetti

This is the accompaniment to the previous post, Ford Madox Brown Meets Young Rossetti.
I did this cartoon for Verity Holloway after she went to the trouble of tracking down and emailing me a copy of the full letter, which, for the life of me, I couldn't find excerpts of in any of my books. (I think I owe her another cartoon for that...)

This is Dante Gabriel Rossetti's younger brother, William Michael, fellow early PRB member who actually went on to marry Ford Madox Brown's oldest daughter Lucy. (Lucy was taught by her father and went on to become a painter in her right, as did  her younger half-sister Catherine. Brown himself didn't skimp on educating his girls in his techniques.)

William Michael will pop up again-- so far I've only depicted him being disparaging of Rossetti's model Fanny Cornforth here.

Coming up next: Lizzie's Trouble With Ruskin.

Ford Madox Brown Meets Young Rossetti

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





I had just finished reading Into the Frame: The Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown by Angela Thirlwell and I felt the need to show how Ford Madox Brown met Dante Gabriel Rossetti (back when he still signed his name Gabriel Charles Rossetti). This misunderstanding and ensuing confrontation actually happened but of course not in as silly a way as shown above.

Ford Madox Brown made a brief appearance in one of my earlier cartoons, getting into a row with William Holman Hunt. (We'll get to their real antagonism towards each other shortly...)

Rossetti, being Rossetti, would end up charming his perplexed would-be art teacher. Featured in the  cartoon, we also meet Emma, Brown's model and soon-to-be wife.  Later on, in the doorway behind Rossetti, is his mother Frances Polidori (sister to Lord Byron's infamous doctor) and younger brother William Michael (with some hair this time) who would also become one of the original seven PRB brothers.

 

Young Ford Madox Brown, drawn by Rossetti.

Young D.G. Rossetti's portrait of himself,
complete with wind machine.

 

Ford Madox Brown was a well-traveled artist who had been schooled on the continent rather than the Royal Academy, so his paintings had a decidedly different, even old Flemish, flavor from what the Academy endorsed.

Ford Madox Brown, self-portrait.

This made him all the more fascinating to young Gabriel who made it his mission as a young man to rebel against the Royal Academy (where he was known as "The Italian") in any way he could. This included the way he dressed (shabby, dark clothes that were excused by everyone as "bohemian") to what artwork he favored (he was fond of medievalism.)

Because Brown had not studied at the Academy in England, but rather in Belgium, Italy and France, the older man had a pre-Renaissance flair to his painting style that intrigued the young, bored student of the Academy's Antique School.

It is argued that the older man was the first Pre-Raphaelite (even if he wasn't officially a member of the original PRB) and that his style would influence the entire Pre-Raphaelite movement to come.

 

Chaucer at the Court of Edward III, Ford Madox Brown.
Brown, like the other PRB members, often enlisted his comrades to pose for him.
Seated on the ground in the left corner is Walter Deverell wooing a girl.
(Sort of typecasting when it came to Deverell...)

 

Drawing of Emma for one of Brown's most famous
paintings, The Last of England.

Ford Madox Brown, at 27, was already a widower with a young daughter and later had a favorite live-in model named Emma Hill, who would become his second wife. Despite receiving excellent reviews for his work, he sold very few paintings. He was too different, too continental, and thus was deemed unfashionable. He often chose epic, historical scenes as his subjects as well as themes from literature, such as Chaucer and Byron.

But he was best at depicting truthful, unidealized people. This style became something the future PRB would adapt to much early scorn and derision.

              

 Rossetti decided at once that Ford Madox Brown should be his teacher.

Medallion of young Rossetti with his great hair,
sculpted by John Hancock.
 (No, not the guy who signed his name the biggest on
the Declaration of Independence.)

Now, Rossetti, being Rossetti, couldn't just ask his hero for lessons in a straightforward, politely condensed note. He went very over-the-top with a rambling fan letter full of hyperboles and florid praise that made Brown think that this had to be a joke. Brown was struggling financially and nobody seemed to want his paintings. Also, he worked too slowly and meticulously on each painting, frequently second-guessing and correcting himself. Though he remained true to his vision and not caving in to fashion, he was still not pumping out art fast enough to support himself. Moody and depressed, Ford took offense at the snot-nosed kid who was clearly mocking him.

At his point, I want to thank the awesome Verity Holloway, fountain of knowledge for all things Rossettian, for her assistance in finding the actual letter in its entirety and taking the time to email it to me. Some highlights:

 

Young Ford in a less agitated reading state, painted by young Johnny Millais. 

 

"Sir,--

I am a student in the Antique School of the Royal Academy. Since the first time  I ever went to an exhibition (which was several years ago, and when I saw a picture of yours from Byron's Giaour ) I have listened with avidity if your name happened to be mentioned, and rushed first of all to your number in the Catalogue..."

 

He goes on to list the "glorious works" Brown had exhibited which "successively raised my admiration and kept me standing on the same spot for fabulous lengths of time."

 

Yes, he does use the word "fabulous". Read on.

He tells how he hung up on his wall Brown's published Abstract Representation of Justice (with an accompanying engraved illustration) and that it was the "sole adornment of my room". And in a long tangent, he goes on to describe his humble room: "Small and bare and uncared-for it was, but how many hours which in retrospect seem glorious hours, have I not passed in it with my brother! How many books have we not read to one another..." Etc, etc.

 

Now we get to the actual point of the letter:

"It is not therefore to be wondered at if, wishing to obtain some knowledge of colour (which I have as yet scarcely attempted), the hope suggests itself that you might possibly admit pupils to profit from your invaluable assistance. In such is being the case, you would do me the honour to inform me what your terms would be for six months' instructions, I feel convinced that I should then have some chance in Art.

--I remain, Sir, very truly yours,

Gabriel C. Rossetti"

 

 You can just Imagine Ford Madox Brown's reaction to this. "You've got to be kidding me."

After confronting Rossetti with his stick in hand, he soon came to the realization that this was not exaggeration on the younger man's part, that this was just how the kid talked. He was invited in by the Rossetti family, given the name "Signor Bruno" (Italian for "Brown") and agreed to tutor Rossetti, waiving any fee that was proposed. From Brown, Rossetti would first hear of a brotherhood of German Romantic artists called the Nazarenes, whose movement would become inspirational to another group soon to be started in secret.

Over the years, Brown would show considerable generosity to his former pupil, lending him money and advice and, yes, his coat.

 

Ford Madox Brown's self-portrait in later years, with added
beard and unusual hairstyle courtesy of Emma.

The older Rossetti, still borrowing stuff from Bruno.


 

The kicker to all this was that even after Brown began giving his new young friend lessons (for free, remember!) Rossetti became bored of drawing and painting educational still-lifes and promptly

enlisted a new teacher. This would be William Holman Hunt, his fellow PRB co-founder and also a Royal Academy student who shared his love for pre-Renaissance art.

 

Holman Hunt and Brown viewed each other with distrust and it was one of the reasons Brown was not invited to officially join the secret Brotherhood... not that he was into such foolishness...

Brown was understandably angry (not to mention hurt) but still managed to remain one of Rossetti's most loyal friends throughout his life.

 

"But damn it, he still owes me money, the little punk."

 

Coming up next: Fanboy Rossetti.

 

Oscar in Color for Graphic Classics

About a month ago, I was asked by Tom Pomplun of Graphic Classics to do a variation of my Oscar Wilde cartoon to use as a bookmark to accompany their volume of Wilde stories done in graphic novel format.



I had done a cartoon for Oscar's birthday months ago which he had seen and liked... (despite my accidentally making Oscar left-handed...)




He asked if I could do a version of it in color and obviously change the format to fit a bookmark.

                                                                                 Here it is!

The official Graphic Classics bookmark version won't be out until the beginning of 2014 but the Oscar Wilde volume it will accompany is available here.


Coming up next: Yes, this time I promise it's the Ford Madox Brown one...

Red House

No, before you ask, I've never been to William Morris' Red House.

This is a very early cartoon from my sketchbook which was inspired by a photo of a woman on the lawn with a black cat who lives at Red House. Because I have two black cats, I joked I had teleported and that William Morris' ghost told me to get off his lawn. My friend Cara told me I should make a cartoon of it-- and here is one of the very first Pre-Raph cartoons I ever did.

Despite frequent invitations to visit from my friend Coleen (she and her family don't live very far from Red House), I just don't have the funds, shall we say, to go pretty much anywhere right now...

Oh, but I will go there someday soon, rest assured! Yes, I will.

Ned Burne-Jones called Red House "the beautifullest place on earth." Here is the link for the National Trust's visitor information: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/redhouse/ (with lots of pretty pictures.)

Yes, it does look something like a very big hobbit would live in...
 

Red House was meant to be a medieval antidote to fussy Victorian homes and was completed in 1860. It was designed by William Morris and his friend, architect Philip Webb and Morris hoped it would house a community of artists and craftsmen. Morris had actually hoped his best friend Edward Burne-Jones and his family would move into a proposed annexed area but this was never realized due to the tragic death of Ned and his wife Georgie's newborn son Christopher. Nevertheless, Ned contributed stained glass designs and murals and he and his family were frequent guests.

Morris determined that the place where his house was to be built should have fruit orchards and gardens. It was built of deep red brick (hence the name) and designed so very few trees would need to be cut down for its construction.

Here are some lovely photos of its interior which contributed to the early stages of  Morris' reknowned career as a designer: http://wmmorrisfanclub.blogspot.com/2010/07/red-house-hallwayswelcome.html

 

In the too brief time that Morris and his family lived at Red House, it was a popular place for festivities and William's generous visits to the wine cellar. There were snowball fights in winter and games of hide-and-seek indoors and on the grounds. Many of Morris' neighbors at the time weren't kindly disposed to the eccentric groups of artists and other creative types who (shockingly) had tea parties on Sunday. Here Dante Gabriel Rossetti first began his fascination with Morris' wife, the former Jane Burden.

 

Oh, and here is the black cat, Oscar, who inspired this cartoon. Grace Nuth talks about him here on The Beautiful Necessity blog:

 

 

Oscar the Cat who lives at
 the Beautifullest Place on Earth.

 

 

Next: Ford Madox Brown meets a young admirer. 

 

 

 

Rossetti and Jane Morris

This is Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Jane Morris (with an adoring Top the Wombat...)

I did this sketch for Phillip Brown's birthday this week. Phillip maintains the amazing site Pre-Raphaelite Art  http://preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.com/ , a treasure-trove of everything PRB. He also maintains many art-related blogs and groups and keeps getting lots of cool books that we all envy.

Now that I've gotten over the flu, it's back to cartoon business as usual!