Edwin Austin Abbey (American, 1852-1911) • The Queen in Hamlet • 1895 • Pastel on paperboard • Illustration for the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Edwin Austin Abbey was an American painter and illustrator who identified with the British Pre-Raphaelites. He was an Anglophile, whose subjects were almost always British. Edwin Abbey's Shakespearean works influenced late Victorian stage productions.
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Ladies with beautiful hair...
"Sansa was a lady at three, always so courteous and eager to please. She loved nothing so well as tales of knightly valor. Men would say she had my look, but she will grow into a woman far more beautiful than I ever was, you can see that. I often sent away her maid so I could brush her hair myself. She had auburn hair, lighter than mine, and so thick and soft... the red in it would catch the light of the torches and shine like copper." – ACOK, Catelyn VII
I recently went to 'The Rossettis' exhibition at the Tate Britain, which I would really reccommend going to if you're able (I think it'll be coming to the US at some point to)... though I will say, despite featuring work by Christina Rossetti and Elizabeth Rossetti (née Siddal), it is Dante Gabriel Rossetti who looms the largest.
His dominant presence reminded me of a little meta I wrote a while ago: GRRM, Sansa Stark & The Pre-Raphaelites. In the past, I'd focused more on John William Waterhouse, who, while not an founding member of the PRB, shared many similarities with them. But I think maybe it's worth revisiting the PRB, and more specifically the 'hair-mad' Dante Gabriel.
We might think GRRM is pretty into red heads, often taking the time to describe the fiery lustre of auburn hair, but it is Rossetti who is the true and original red head fanatic. Just take writer Elizabeth Gaskell's word on, from a letter written in October 1859, where she reported her experiences with DGR at two evening parties:
"I think we got to know Rossetti pretty well […] I had a good deal of talk with him, always excepting the times when ladies with beautiful hair came in […] It did not signify what we were talking about or how agreeable I was; if a particular kind of reddish brown, crepe wavy hair came in, he was away in a moment struggling for an introduction to the owner of said head of hair. He is not as mad as a March hare, but hair-mad."
Elizabeth Siddal, an artist in her own right, as well as perhaps the PRB's most famous model and muse, notably possessed this "particular kind of reddish, brown" hair...
I need to dedicate a bit more time to this train of thought, though I have touched on GRRM's love of red heads before. It just seems so clear to me that Sansa Stark, with her beautiful hair, is in many ways an idealised beauty at first glance (a flat first impression some in the fandom haven't moved on from), but the more we read, the more the story grows, the more layered she becomes. Similarly, though at first glance Rossetti's painting may appear like idealised visions of beauty, on closer inspection they reveal something deeper:
"During their mid-20s, Gabriel and Elizabeth worked together in his studio and had a great influence on each other’s work. Their richly patterned drawings and watercolours conjure complex, imaginative worlds. Using themselves as models, they created medieval fantasies of love and temptation, loyalty and betrayal. Complicated relationships are expressed in intricate gestures, poses and spaces." – Medieval Moderns, Tate Britain
I find Sansa a very enjoyable and gratifying character to read and follow, because hers is a character and narrative that unfolds slowly and that is full of observation. It pays to look just as closely at her gestures/behaviour, like a Rossetti painting, as you would her speech. And it pays to remember that GRRM is an admirer of the PRB...
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Art History and Names
This is my Own Damn Fault for never caring to look of course, but just found out(via This Video Essay by Snappy Dragon. plz Watch :>) that the Pre-Raphaelites were NOT, in fact, Pre-Raphael but POST Raphael, by ALLOT, like "Romantic 1850s English Victorians" Allot; they just liked medieval art and ~blamed~ Raphael for aspects of contemporary art they didn't LIKE; and Dear Readers I am FUMING!!!!
Also, upgrading this from the tags cuz it's Vital Public information, 'Raphael Sanzio de Urbino' is Raph's full name, which you can absolutely read(I think) as "God Has Healed the Saint of the City" and DAMN that name is Fly as Hell XD XD
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