Pre-Raphaelite women

School Library Journal

YA A timely aspect of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Marsh not only explores the meticulously painted romantic subjects and narratives but also describes the women who were associated with the movementmodels, wives and lovers, as well as women painters (and one photographer) and shows their very definitive influence on this elegant period in English art and literature. The profuse and beautiful illustrations and the many fine drawings set off a text which carefully relates the descriptive chapter headings to the important literary references of prose and poetry. The chapter titled ``Sorceresses'' shows a painting by John William Waterhouse illustrating Keats' poem ``La Belle Dame Sans Merci''; and the chapter ``Pale Ladies of Death'' depicts Shakespeare's Ophelia. Literary, Biblical, and mythological narratives are the sources for most of the idealized heroines. Portraits of these well-recognized women of the time are exhibited in dramatic settings. A captivating book for students researching literature or art of 19th-Century England. Jenni Elliott , Episcopal High School, Bellaire