Poetry in Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelite Art of Marie Spartali Stillman

• Examines the life and work of Marie Spartali Stillman, an underrepresented artist of the British Pre-Raphaelite circle

Marie Spartali Stillman (1844-1927) was one of a small number of professional female artists working in the second half of the nineteenth century. She was an important presence in the Victorian art world and closely affiliated with members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, modeling for George Frederic Watts, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Edward Burne-Jones, among others. Desiring an artistic career of her own, she trained with Ford Madox Brown. After marrying the American painter and journalist William James Stillman, she lived in Italy, where she was deeply influenced by Renaissance art. This fully-illustrated catalogue provides the opportunity to examine approximately fifty of her works, many of which reside in private collections and have not been shown since Spartali Stillman's lifetime. Three essays and individual entries for each of the featured works focus on Spartali Stillman's biography and creative output.
Jan Marsh is a freelance biographer, cultural historian, and exhibition curator specialising in Victorian art. Dr. Margaretta Frederick is the Chief Curator and Curator of the Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Collection of Pre-Raphaelite Art at the Delaware Art Museum.