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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…
Blindness and Cupidity Chasing Joy from the City
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
Here Cupidity, hoarding his jewels carefully in his cloak, and wearing a golden crown, is shackled to Blindness by chains and spikes. They are driving out the angel of joy from the city. The scroll on the right reads:
Hunted Joy flies through the gate.
Blind Blindness is left desolate.
Cupidity the…
Cadmus and Harmonia
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
The subject of the painting is from Ovids Metamorphoses (Book IV, 563-603). After Cadmus is changed into a serpent by Mars, his wife Harmonia begs for a similar fate, which is granted. Here we see Harmonia in the embrace of her transfigured husband. However, De Morgan deviates from Metamorphoses by…
Flora
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
Flora is the Roman Goddess of flowers, especially associated with spring, her festivals, the Floralia, were from 28 April to 3 May. The scroll is in Italian and translates as follows:
I come down from Florence and am Flora,
This city takes its name from flower
Among the flowers I was born and now…
The Garden of Opportunity
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
In the Garden of Opportunity, we see on the right symbols of learning and wisdom. The bench is decorated with an owl, the wise bird and with the cornucopia of the wealth of the earth. A book lies discarded on the bench. Behind is a church, the medieval seat of learning. The mill and water wheel behi…
The Barred Gate
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
This painting is one of the last Evelyn painted and remains unfinished. It portrays a King with his purse of money, climbing the rocky steps to heaven and being halted by the barred gate. The moral being, to give up the pursuit of wealth and fortune in order to obtain higher happiness….
Night and Sleep
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
Night floats through the evening sky, his red robes reminiscent of the sunset, and his billowing cloak darkening the sky behind him. He floats arm in arm with Sleep, who gently scatters poppies onto the earth beneath, from the armful of flowers that he has taken from his girdle. (The Victorians used…
