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The Women of Sorrento Drawing in the Boats
Artist: Spencer Stanhope, John Roddam
This picture was presumably based on a scene that Spencer Stanhope had witnessed during a trip to Sorrento, situated on the North side of the Sorrentine Peninsula on the Gulf of Naples. This was, of course, far from his home outside Florence, and he is most likely to have gone there either on holida…
The Worship of Mammon
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
As a spiritualist Evelyn was obsessed with the opposing concepts of materialism and spiritual wellbeing and she returns to this theme in several of her paintings. The most overt representation being in her painting, The Worship of Mammon, which she painted in 1909
Mammon is the God of worldliness….
The Storm Spirits
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
In this painting the element of rain, thunder and lightning are personified as strong, beautiful female spirits, causing chaos and turbulence In the sea below them. To the left, dressed in yellow, is the spirit of Rain pouring grey water from a never-ending vial. To the right, Lightning – a red-win…
Boreas and Oreithyia
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
Evelyn continually revisited the theme of mythology during the first three decades of her working career, no doubt this was in part due to the theme being equally popular with the art market of the day.
In this painting Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind, is represented as usual as a winged…
The Angel of Death I
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
The theme of death was an increasingly common theme in Evelyns oeuvre as time went by. The Angel of Death I is the most overt representation of the subject and demonstrates Evelyns spiritualist belief that death is to be welcomed and not feared.
Evelyn depicts the Angel of Death, who is symboli…
The Poor Man who Saved the City
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
In this painting a poor man sits dejectedly, whilst behind him the people of the city, bedecked in bright coloured robes celebrate its salvation. There are brambles at the feet of the poor man, symbolising the thorns and pains of his life as a poor man, compared to the richness behind him. At the po…
Cassandra
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
In Greek legend, Cassandra (the daughter of King Priam the King of Troy) was passionately loved by Apollo. He promised to grant her whatever she asked, if she loved him in return. Cassandra asked for the gift of prophecy, however, once she received her powers she refused to keep her part of the ba…
Night and Dawn
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
Night crouches at the bottom of the picture, as if about to sleep, her dark head pillowed on her hands, surrounded by the moon and stars and night sky. Above her rises the Dawn, in the shape of two young women, surrounded by the colours of the sunrise, and wearing golden diadems. The rays of the ri…
Helen of Troy
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
In Greek mythology, Helen was the daughter of Zeus (King of the Gods) and Leda (a human). Legend has it that Helen (the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta) was carried away by Paris (the son of the King of Troy), an act which precipitated the siege and destruction of Troy. Some writers have suggested…
The Gilded Cage
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
An overriding theme in Evelyns work was Womens suffrage, this can best be illustrated by her iconic painting The Gilded Cage.
In the painting a young woman, dressed in sumptuous gold robes, looks wistfully at revellers outside, jewels and books lay discarded, on the floor by her feet. Her entrap…
