A vivid, richly observed and compellingly readable account of the women who held the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in thrall.
Wives and Stunners
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Review
"Nicely packaged ... Her book s subject matter, although hardly unfamiliar, never fails to grip" --The Sunday Times
"There can be few racier literary or artistic sets than the Pre-Raphaelites. Perhaps only the Bloomsbury group can rival them for incestuous pairings, which is why Henrietta Garnett, the daughter of David Garnett and Angelica Bell ... is so well placed to understand them" --Independent on Sunday
"Her angle is the women in their lives, a very reasonable approach since the greatest Pre-Raphaelite pictures are of women" --The Daily Express
"It is one of the strengths of Garnett s writing that she doesn t take sides, or rather, she tends to take both sides at once...It s in moments such as these that Garnett s book excels. Real feeling emerges, and a knack for colourful, engaged phrase-making."
--Spectator
"She is alert to physical details and frequently walks her readers around particular rooms, pointing out what is in them.
She perceives what is happening between two people at any one moment in time. She is also wise but not judgmental. She notices the absurd and has fun with the facts available to her, but she never mocks.
Even those who know something about these artists and their relationships with women will find Garnett engaging. Her stance is clear-eyed, unbiased and unfussy. Her prose is brisk, yet behind it can be felt a nice poise of mind." --Daily Mail
"Garnett is good at evoking the bohemian mores of this tightly knit group of friends, setting them against the deeply conventional and male dominated society in which they worked." --Literary Review
"There can be few racier literary or artistic sets than the Pre-Raphaelites. Perhaps only the Bloomsbury group can rival them for incestuous pairings, which is why Henrietta Garnett, the daughter of David Garnett and Angelica Bell ... is so well placed to understand them" --Independent on Sunday
"Her angle is the women in their lives, a very reasonable approach since the greatest Pre-Raphaelite pictures are of women" --The Daily Express
"It is one of the strengths of Garnett s writing that she doesn t take sides, or rather, she tends to take both sides at once...It s in moments such as these that Garnett s book excels. Real feeling emerges, and a knack for colourful, engaged phrase-making."
--Spectator
"She is alert to physical details and frequently walks her readers around particular rooms, pointing out what is in them.
She perceives what is happening between two people at any one moment in time. She is also wise but not judgmental. She notices the absurd and has fun with the facts available to her, but she never mocks.
Even those who know something about these artists and their relationships with women will find Garnett engaging. Her stance is clear-eyed, unbiased and unfussy. Her prose is brisk, yet behind it can be felt a nice poise of mind." --Daily Mail
"Garnett is good at evoking the bohemian mores of this tightly knit group of friends, setting them against the deeply conventional and male dominated society in which they worked." --Literary Review
Book Description
Essentially a domestic biography whose main concern is the tragicomedy of manners enacted by a closely knit group of friends and lovers, Wives and Stunners tells the story of Janey Morris, Georgie Burne-Jones, Lizzie Siddall, Effie Gray and less well-known, Marie Spartali, Aglaia Coronio and Mary Zambacco. These women were the wives, mistresses andmuses, of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the inspiration behind the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and John Millais. Set against the background of mid-Victorian bohemian England, Henrietta Garnett vividly evokes the world they inhabited and the lives they lived. She recounts the romances and friendships between the artists and the 'stunners' in a lively and original way and her book will appeal to anyone interested in Victorian England, the history of the Pre-Raphaelites and, significantly, to everyone who wants to read a spellbinding story of a bygone era.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Plettworker
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is an important addition to the library of literature about the Pre-Raphaelites. It's publication comes at the same time as the largest exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite drawings and paintings to be assembled for a quarter of a century, currently at the Tate Gallery.
The book is written in a lively style and portrays the painters and their muses from the earliest years of the P-R Brotherhood, until to the end of the nineteenth century. Through careful research the author brings the artists very much to life. She chronicles their private lives and their tangled love affairs. She helps the reader to see these men and women as flesh and blood; real people caught up in, and living, an artistic and bohemian way of life while led to the production of some of the most outstanding art, literature and design to emerge from the Victorian age.
The book is written in a lively style and portrays the painters and their muses from the earliest years of the P-R Brotherhood, until to the end of the nineteenth century. Through careful research the author brings the artists very much to life. She chronicles their private lives and their tangled love affairs. She helps the reader to see these men and women as flesh and blood; real people caught up in, and living, an artistic and bohemian way of life while led to the production of some of the most outstanding art, literature and design to emerge from the Victorian age.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Onora
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
My attention was drawn to this book when I watched the author being interviewed by Nick Higham. As an enthusiast of the Pre-Raphaelites and their work, I found this to be a tremendous book. It commences with the founding of the PRB then, the author pays particular emphasis to the marriage of Effie Gray to John Ruskin which had to be anulled. Effie then married John Everett-Millais another Pre-Raphaelite, it was a happy union. Of course, any work about the Pre-Raphaelites wouldn't be complete without Dante Gabriel-Rossetti and his complex relationship with Lizzie Siddal. Their subsequent marriage was shortened by the death of Lizzie from an overdose of laudanum. Rossetti the consistent philanderer, had a full affair with Janey the wife of William Morris. The Pre-Raphaelites are as interesting for their colourful relationships with their muses, as their art. I personally find them fascinating. There are a few colour and black and white plates of the work of the Pre-Raphaelites,as well as poems by William Morris, Christina and Dante Gabriel-Rossetti himself. This is a must for all PRB enthusiasts. Highly recommended!!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
An interesting and entertaining book about a celebrated group of painters and their ladies which brings to life the Victorian period which was so very different from our own. Thoroughly enjoying it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not so stunning!
A disappointing book. Clearly a lot of research has gone into it, but it would have benefitted from rigorous editing. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Angel
2.0 out of 5 stars
A good read, but not what it said it was
Having enjoyed the work of the pre-raphaelites for years, and taking an interest in their lives, I was really taken by the title of this. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Aitch
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as stunning as it could be.
This is nicely written, but doesn't really do what it says in the title. It is supposed to be about "The Pre Raphaelites and their Muses", however of the original brotherhood it... Read more
Published 5 months ago by KAW
1.0 out of 5 stars
DON'T BUY: No images WHATSOEVER in Kindle version
There are no images whatsoever in this Kindle book, which is more than a disappointment considering its subject matter. Read more
Published 7 months ago by TJW
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Stunning Book
This is a beautifully written and produced book which brings out the essence of the Pre Raphelite Brotherhood and their lovely women in all their splendour and foibles. Read more
Published 8 months ago by biker
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