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The Captives
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
In a dark cave, festooned with phallic stalactites and stalagmites, cluster together several classically draped women. They are being menaced in their prison by shadowy dragons, from whose sight three of the women are hiding their eyes. There appears to be no escape. This could be seen as a metaphor…
Our Lady of Peace
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
This painting is in response to the Boer war.
In Our Lady of Peace we see a Christian knight, who is about to depart for battle, kneel in a church, and pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Peace). De Morgans use of traditional Christian iconography and chivalric imagery is however, subver…
The Love Potion
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
Evelyn De Morgan painted several subjects using medieval themes and stylistic devices which had been made popular by the Pre-Raphaelites, these paintings included Queen Eleanor and the Fair Rosamund and The Hour Glass.
The female figure in the painting has often been mis-categorised as the devi…
Sunbeam and Summer Shower
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
Oil sketch for an uncompleted larger painting.
The sunbeam, in the person of a young woman draped in gold, sits on a rock, shrinking away from the oncoming shower. Above her, the sky is blue and clear. From the left approaches the Summer Shower, a woman draped in dark blue and pink, casting a shado…
Death of a Butterfly
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
The butterfly personified by a lady with golden hair is collapsing on the ground a rainbow behind her symbolises her goodness and salvation. The angel of death with dark wings appears to the right of the picture in order to claim the butterfly….
Queen Eleanor and the Fair Rosamund
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
Rosamund was the mistress of Henry II, who built a house for her at Woodstock in Oxfordshire. Legends say that he tried to keep her safe by installing her in a house called Labyrinthus, which was in effect a maze. But Queen Eleanor found her way through by using a thread and poisoned her. The maze c…
Lux in Tenebris
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
After Evelyn and WIlliam were married in 1887 she became particularly close to her mother-in-law Sophia De Morgan. Sophia was heavily involved with Spiritualism and her interests influenced both of the artistic couple. One particular theme in Evelyn’s work which developed from this new found involve…
Sleep and Death: The Children of Night
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
In this painting Evelyn portrays two young boys resting against the Lady of the Night, whose cloak flies behind her in the wind. The children are allegorical representations of Sleep who rests against the lady’s knee and Death who stares out of the canvas holding an extinguished torch symbolic of th…
Port After Stormy Seas
Artist: De Morgan, Evelyn
The title is a quotation from Spenser’s The Fairie Queen
Sleep after toyle,
port after stormy seas,
Ease after Warre,
death after life doe greatly please.
The painting indicates that the woman has achieved a peaceful death after a stormy life. She has safely navigated the stormy seas on the ri…
