I Want to Hear Your Story
Posted on 22 December 2007
Did it start with a particular painting that you were drawn to? Subject matter? Or was it a particular artist? A book you stumbled upon? We each have a story, a unique and personal experience. Share yours. There are a couple of lovely ones already. I look forward to reading yours.
3 Responses to “I Want to Hear Your Story”
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Lizzie had so much sadness in her life and I guess I do too! I also love England and the Victorian era, and I am drawn to anything gothic and death-related like Highgate cemetery, exhumations and the like. I have chronic pain and I use prescription painkillers which would be the equivalent of Laudanum so Lizzie seems like a sister of mine. And of course the beautiful and moving poetry and art of the Pre-Raphaelites really speaks to me. I love “Beata Beatrix”. What more can I say? By the way, accidental overdoses kill about 25 percent of people sho regularly use prescription pain meds, and I’m guessing there was a high rate in Lizzie’s time with laudanum and opium and the like. I’m sure she died accidentally. I really don’t think she had any reason to commit suicide and I can’t imagine that Gabriel would want her murdered. Yes, he mistreated her and neglected her but I truly believe he loved her in his own way!
I found out about Rossetti completely by accident – through searching for “eighteenth century churchyard” in Google Images. It came back with a thumbnail of Rossetti’s “Washing Hands”, which took me to the Rossetti archive and so onto finding out about Elizabeth Siddal. I am now utterly fascinated with both her and Rossetti – but before I saw “Washing Hands” I’d never heard of either of them!
The first time I knew about the Pre-Raphaelites was becuase of a comic named “A glass of water”, by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean. In one passage of it, the main character explains she has seen the painting of Millais’ Ophelia in a shop. Then I didn’t pay much attention to it, just like in school, when I studied Spanish Literature. Our teacher told us about Modernism and said that the Pre-Rapahelites had influenced this movement.
But when I deeply introduced in the PR world, was when I discovered Loreena McKennitt’s album “The Visit”. I fell in love with her song “The Lady of Shalott” and wanted to find out more about this character. It obviously lead me to all the PR artists that have depicted her…and the rest is history.