Into the Frame: The Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown - Softcover

Thirlwell, Angela

4.13

15 ratings by Goodreads

9781844139149: Into the Frame: The Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184413914X ISBN 13: 9781844139149

Publisher: Pimlico, 2011

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A vivid account of the public art and private demons of the finest but least understood artist connected to the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and the four central women in his life: his two wives and models, and his two secret lovers Romantic, illuminating, and richly illustrated throughout, this biography is a rare opportunity to explore a fascinating area of Victorian bohemianism, based on new research and written with verve and sympathy. Madox Brown was always an outsider, refusing to join any group, even the Pre-Raphaelites with whom he was so closely associated; and the women he loved also burst out of accepted stereotypes. His wives, Elisabeth Bromley and Emma Hill, and his secret passions, the artist Marie Spartali and the author Mathilde Blind, were remarkable women from very different backgrounds. Their striving for self-expression in an age that sought to suppress them reveals much about womens' journeys towards modern roles. Elisabeth Bromley was born in 1818, the year Mary Shelley published Frankenstein; Marie Spartali died in 1927, a year before all women won the vote in Great Britain. Their lives—full of passion, sexual longing, tragedy, and determination—reach from the English countryside and the artist's studio, to a Europe in turmoil and revolution. These are not silent muses hidden in the shadow of the "Master"—they step out of the shadows and into the picture, speaking with voices the reader can hear and understand.

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About the Author:

Angela Thirlwell is the editor of The Pre-Raphaelites and Their World and the author of William and Lucy: The Other Rossettis.

Review:

"Humane and intelligent . . . an up-close, colourfully detailed study of the interweaving lives and passions of a small group of sophisticated Victorians." —Daily Telegraph

"[A] beautifully written, emotionally intelligent and finely detailed account . . . What impresses is how richly informative is this history of individual lives, about the period as a whole, its culture, and material existence." —Independent

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