Pre-Raphaelite Paintings Rooted in Literary Sources

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, formed in 1848, consistently drew inspiration from literature, including works by Shakespeare, Keats, and Tennyson. John Everett Millais's 'Isabella' (1848–1849, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) depicts a scene from Keats's poem based on Boccaccio's Decameron, where Isabella's brothers discover her love for Lorenzo. William Holman Hunt's 'Isabella and the Pot of Basil' (1868, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle) shows a later moment when Isabella plants Lorenzo's severed head. Millais's 'Ophelia' (1851–1852, Tate Britain) illustrates Shakespeare's Hamlet, with Elizabeth Siddall modeling in a bathtub, leading to her pneumonia. John William Waterhouse painted his own 'Ophelia' (1894, private collection). Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'Beata Beatrix' (1864–1870, Tate Britain) memorializes his wife Siddall as Beatrice, referencing Dante Alighieri. Hunt's 'Claudio and Isabella' (1850, Tate Britain) captures a scene from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Millais's 'Mariana' (1851, Tate Britain) was inspired by Tennyson's poem. Hunt's 'The Lady of Shalott' (1888–1905, Wadsworth Atheneum) and Waterhouse's version (1888, Tate Britain) both illustrate Tennyson's Arthurian poem. Edward Burne-Jones's 'Sidonia von Bork' (1860, Tate Britain) depicts the femme fatale from Wilhelm Meinhold's novel, with Fanny Cornforth as model.