Mariana - John Everett Millais

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Inspired by: John Everett Millais - Mariana

This painting was inspired by an Alfred, Lord Tennyson poem. The Pre-Raphaelites based many of their paintings on Shakespeare and Tennyson’s themes. Millais used Tennyson’s “Mariana” to create a narrative for his painting. It tells the story of Mariana, a character in Shakespeare's “Measure for Measure”. In the play, she is rejected by her fiancé Angelo, after her dowry is lost in a shipwreck. In Shakespeare’s version, Mariana ends up seducing Angelo and getting him to marry her. In contrast, Tennyson dwells on her isolation and loneliness, which is never resolved. Millais hung the poem along with his painting at its first showing,
The Pre-Raphaelites focused much of their work on single female figures. These women were typically based on tragic heroines sourced from myths or literature. The women always possessed a remarkable and distinctive kind of beauty often coupled with a mystical power or dominance over men. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) originated in 1848 with seven members. They studied painters who came before Raphael, hence the “Pre- Raphaelites”. They set up camp in Dante Rossetti’s mothers house, and put a plaque with PRB on front door. Some people thought it stood for “please ring bell”. See original: bit.ly/42E5A1w

Michelangelo - The Torment of Saint Anthony

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Inspired by: Michelangelo - The Torment of Saint Anthony – 1487-88

Anthony was a religious hermit, who lived for twenty years in solitude on a mountain by the Nile. There he
began his long struggle against the temptations of the devil, which became a legend of Christian history. This painting depicts one of his visionary levitations. He is being attacked by the devil, who is disguised in the form of animals and beasts.
This is the first known painting by Michelangelo, painted when he was thirteen years old. The work is one of only four easel paintings generally regarded as having come from his hand. This may have been a practice painting, since it is a colorized version of an existing engraving by the fifteenth-century German master Martin Schongauer.
The engraving had no background, so Michelangelo added his own. His background is filled with water, even a boat, but St Anthony was a desert dweller. I guess young Michelangelo didn’t do his homework.

To see original: https://bit.ly/3XCdndj

Sandro Botticelli - The Birth of Venus

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Inspired by: Sandro Botticelli - The Birth of Venus

This painting is all about Venus, and how Botticelli wanted to immortalize her. Not because of the goddess of love she represents, but because he was madly in love with the model, Simonetta Vespucci. Simonetta was born in 1453. At the age of 15, she arrived in Florence with her husband Marco. Marco’s family was connected to the Medici, so they were invited to court. It was there that Simonetta’s beauty became legendary. She didn’t just look like Venus, but totally embodied her grace and charisma.She modelled for Botticelli, di Cosimo and other painters who attempted to capture her remarkable features. She became Botticelli’s muse and is found in a number of his paintings. Her presents filled his masterpiece “Primavera”, where many, if not all, of the women are modelled after her. She died at the age of 22 from tuberculosis. This painting was created posthumously, almost ten years later. After those many years Botticelli still had a clear vision of her face and body. At the time of Botticelli’s death in 1510 he was penniless. His work had gone out of favor after Michelagelo and Raphael hit town. On his death bed, he asked to be buried at Simonetts’s feet, and that is where he lies today.

To see original: https://bit.ly/3y4qxTd