I finished reading Elizabeth Hickey's novel, The Wayward Muse , some time ago and never got around to mentioning it. I greatly enjoyed Hickey's first novel, The Painted Kiss, about Austrian artist Gustav Klimt and Emilie Floge (who was an artist in her own right). If you stop by here occasionally you'll know I have a certain curiosity about artists' lives and those of their muses. I knew nothing about Jane Burden before reading The Wayward Muse. Burden was a model for the Pre-Raphaelite artists--in particular Dante Gabriel Rossetti who discovered Burden, but now I would like to learn more about this entire circle of artists.
Jane Burden was not a conventional beauty. By the standards of her family, she actually thought herself quite ugly, but Dante Gabriel Rossetti saw a beauty in her that he was able to translate so elegantly on to canvas. He saved her from a life in the slums of Oxford when he paid her to model for him, and she promptly fell in love with him. It was not Rossetti she married, however, but fellow artist, William Morris. Rossetti, who had been painting murals in the Oxford Union was called away as his on-again-off-again fiance Elizabeth Siddal was ailing just as Burden was falling for him. He would marry Siddal. When she died (not sure this is a true story, but likely it is grounded in fact), he was so overcome with grief that he placed a manuscript of unpublished poems in the casket with her to be buried.
Burden's marriage with Morris was not a happy one. Before she married Morris, his mother asked that she be trained properly on how to run a household as would be befitting of a wife of a wealthy man, which Morris was at the time. She had very little education, but she was able to recreate herself in an entirely new life. She went from the poverty of the slums, to associating in the upper class circles of London society. After the death of Siddal, she became Rossetti's mistress, much to the chagrin of Morris. He allowed the affair to continue in private in order to avoid public scandal. Can you see why this is such an interesting group of individuals? The Wayward Muse was an interesting peek at the lives of Morris, Rossetti and particularly Burden. Check out Elizabeth Hickey's website here (there are more photos as well as examples of Rossetti's and Morris's artwork under the History and Gallery links). You can also read an article published earlier this year in the Smithsonian about the Pre-Raphaelites here.
Next up is a novel by Debra Finerman about Manet's muse, Mademoiselle Victorine. The book is due to be published in a few weeks, and I am eagerly awaiting a review copy of it. Victorine Laurent is the subject of Manet's scandalous painting, Olympia, which will not surprise you to know caused an immediate uproar when Manet exhibited it. I always wonder how much fact authors base these sorts of books on, and how much fiction comes into play. It's always an interesting springboard to start with these sorts of books when it comes to certain topics. They tend to lead to other books...as a matter of fact I think I have a few nonfiction books about the famous "Olympia" somewhere--must dig them out!