A figurative painter who specialised in orientalist fantasy and Biblical stories, and was the husband of Henrietta Rae, the pioneering feminist and painter.
Rae
An outline of the plot of Shakespeare’s greatest play, together with a selection of paintings, excluding those of the death of Ophelia.
The personification of the west wind, to the Greeks gentle and responsible for bringing the start of the growing season, and the abduction and rape of a nymph who became Flora.
Odysseus and his crew survive their encounter with the Sirens, but the hero has to endure 7 years with Calypso before he meets Nausicaä.
One of the most frequently painted of the classical deities, this is out of all proportion to her tiny role in the pantheon. From Ricci to Waterhouse.
Absent from Classical art, she first appears in Apuleius’ ‘The Golden Ass’, which was written in the 2nd century. Wonderful paintings, particularly from women artists, of this novel.
Bad girls whose beautiful voices lured sailors to their deaths, so that the women could eat them. Paintings by Etty, Moreau, Waterhouse, Rae, Nash and others.
Becoming more popular in the late 1880s and early 1890s, ‘problem pictures’ from Marie Spartali Stillman, Henrietta Rae, Millais, and others.
As narrative painting went into decline, Ophelia became even more popular. From Henrietta Rae through sub-aqua views to Waterhouse’s obsession.
References to Botticelli’s Primavera and Poussin by Tiepolo, and in the late 19th century: Flora and the Spring.
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