I Sit In Thy Shadow, But Not Alone.

 Despite having a nearly constant stream of essay writing over the months of March and April, I have still managed to get out and about southern England and London in search of anything Pre-Raphaelite. I have mentioned in my previous post that I had a course on Pre-Raphaelite art last semester but maybe what I didn't stress is how hard and fast I fell in love with it. I was completely surprised by how enthralled I was during that class as I had almost no interest going into that class and it ended up being my favorite one of the entire year. Britain, and particularly southern England, is simply dripping in Pre-Raphaelite art, architecture, and relics from that period. I decided that, given I am writing an essay on such art, it would not be completely irresponsible to take a few selected afternoons off to have a look at various related things to do with the period. At the end of my course, my professor, Barrie, took us all to Oxford (where he lives) and gave us a tour of the Pre-Raphaelite aspects of Oxford. That trip really inspired me and ultimately made me decide that I want to continue studying them and write about them for my MA dissertation this summer. I also had a field trip to the Frederick Watts gallery (not Pre-Raph, but still an influential symbolist painter of the period) in southern Surrey, a visit to the Tate Britain in London, and a trip to Kent to see the Red House (William and Jane Morris' arts & crafts style home). I have only scratched the surface into all things Pre-Raphaelite and over the summer I hope to cross a few more sites off of my list.

So here is a montage of photos from my last months worth of visits and day-trips. I hope you enjoy them, though I realize that the beauty of some of these art works cannot be adequately transcribed onto a photograph.

Watts Gallery, Surrey

The most famous painting in the collection Hope

Inside the chapel at the Watts Gallery

Oxford Debating Hall

Pre-Raphaelite murals in the Debating hall

Barrie giving us a lesson on Exeter College

Tapestry by Morris & Co

Burne-Jones stain glass in Christchurch College

Millais' Ophelia at the Tate Britain

Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Mona Vanna

Millais' Mariana

The Red House in Bexleyheath, Kent

Royal Holloway in Spring