Pre Raphaelites

The Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of young painters, who started to work and exhibit, in the 1840s.   
They were rebels against the painting establishment and exemplars of a new philosophy of painting.  Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who was one of the most talented of them, had started to train as an artist but found the traditional path of learning by copying classical paintings, deadening and boring. He and other young arists derided Joshua Reynolds, as "Sir Sloshua" because of the dull colours and restrictive teaching that he had propounded.
Rosetti was also a poet and wrote a great deal of poetry which was related to his painting.  Formal training involved learning to paint from models and copying, before one was allowed to draw from life... and careful composition of each picture.

Rossetti was a restless and original young man who refused to follow this discipline but in later years, his wilfulness and lack of discipline led to his having money and personal problems, and becoming addicted to various drugs such as chloral, which seriously affected his health.

The young men of the Brotherhood were nearly all from modest middle class backgrounds, and in the 1840s they were learning their craft.  They included John Millais, Edward Burne Jones, William Holman Hunt, and William Morris.  They were fed up with the artistic establishment and wanted to “go back to Nature” and to a simpler  pre Capitalist way of working.  

The Pre Raphaelite label was chosen because they wanted to return to the simplicity of life into the Middle ages, and to the style of painting before Raphael... and they preferred simpler purer medieval art.   At the same time, there was a similar group in Germany, who also sought greater simplicity and shared the same ideals.  They were known as the Nazarenes.

The Pre Raphaelites particularly wanted to use light and clear pure colours and to try to paint real life, rather than the compositions of “establishment” art.

Instead of wanting to paint chocolate boxy beauties and society ladies, they sought models who were unusual in their looks, beautiful in an offbeat way, and they often found these attributes in girls of a humbler background.

 Much of their earlier work was considered shockingly realistic, dealing with biblical, literary and mythological subjects but in a “real” way.

One of their first paintings to be exhibited was “Christ in the Carpenters shop”, where Millais was criticised for making the Holy Family look so “ordinary”.   Ruskin and Charles DIckens both disliked this painting...
However the beauty and simplicity of the paintings began to take the public’s fancy and they sold well.  Millais, the best painter, became a critical and commercial success. The group were especially fond of Arthurian themes which were extremely popular in the Victorian era.  

In their early years, the young men were good friends and socialised with each other.  As time passed they acquired wives and families, but usually the friendships survived.

Millais and Burne Jones both married middle class ladies.  Millais married Effie Ruskin, who had divorced her husband the art critic John Ruskin, for non-consummation of their marriage. 

Edward Burne Jones married Georgiana Macdonald, a daughter of well to do middle class family.

Yet some of the Brotherhood sought out working class girls who looked attractive -but not in a conventional way.  Rossetti in particular was drawn to girls with red gold hair.  It’s been suggested that since the young men were nearly all from "proper" Victorian middle class background and were inexperienced and shy with women, they found it easier to start relationships with a working class girl.  It is possible that they felt  that they had more control over girls from a humble background, if they married them. 

  

William Morris married Jane Burden, the daughter of a tradesman.  She was only 18 when they married, very dark, with rich dark hair and a long but attractive face.   Janey later admitted that she had not been in love with him, and their marriage wasn’t always very happy.   Morris was devoted to her, but he was obsessed with his work and often bad tempered.  He had many interests, including textile design, painting, writing, translating, and he was a Socialist activist.

Janey was from a different class, and although she (like some of the other wives) educated herself in “ladylike” behaviour, she didn’t quite fit in.  She pursued a long affair with Gabriel Rossetti, but he had other mistresses and his addiction to drugs caused a rift between them, later… 
Morris tolerated her love for Rossetti, but he sought consolation in platonic romances with other women, particularly Georgiana Burne Jones, who was not very happy in her marriage to Edward.  
Burne Jones was unfaithful to her.. He loved his wife and did not want to leave her, but he had a torrid romance with Maria Zambaco, a Greek girl, who attempted suicide during their affair.  
Georgie tolerated the infidelity, to an extent and remained in love with her husband but found some consolation in her friendship with Morris and also with political activity.  Like Morris she was a socialist sympathizer.  She had hoped to work as an artist herself but found at first that married life, and motherhood took up most of her time.  Later on, when she and Edward had settled into  a marriage that was affectionate but not so close, she  pursued a interest in politics, stood for local election and was an active social reformer.. 
Edward was sympathetic to liberal causes but found politics boring and did not take any active part in them.  He found consolation in other affairs with women, most of them were probably platonic and conducted by letter...

 More follows on the Pre Raphaelites

John Masefield Poet

I’ve always loved Masefield’s lyrics about the Sea.  His most famous poem is probably Sea Fever...

“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,”

I think I first heard it in an episode of Star Trek... And it epitomised the romance of ships, especially sailing ships.

Masefield was born in England in 1878 and had a happy childhood in the country, until his parents died. After an unhappy period at school, he went to HMS Conway In Liverpool, to train as a sailor.   He loved the sea, in some ways but found that life on board ship was hard work and not as romantic as he had hoped....  He was often cold and miserable, and lonely.  
After a few years at sea, he developed health problems, while abroad and gave up the life.   He went to America, where he lived as something of a drifter, doing odd jobs.   He got a steady job in Yonkers, near New York in the late 1890s, and worked in a carpet factory.  He had time to read, and decided to become a writer.

 In 1897, he came back to England, and started to write seriously. In  London, he became friends with William Butler Yeats, who was then a successful poet and who was kind to younger writers.  He also met his future wife, Constance, who was several years his senior and form a well to do Anglo Irish family.  She was a highly intelligent woman, who had gone to college and was working as a teacher. 

Masefield was eager to earn his own living, as a poet... but for a time he was not earning much and had to rely on his wife.  They had 2 children, Judith and Lewis, and within a few years, his poems were increasingly successful.

His poems included lyrics about the sea, and a narrative poem called “Everlasting Mercy”, about a reformed sinner…

During World war One, Masefield worked in a hospital in France for a time as he was too old for active service.  He then did lecture tours to America, and after the war, moved to the country.  One of his famous poems is Reynard the Fox and he wrote a cycle of Arthurian poems.

He wrote novels in the 1920s and eventually became Poet Laureate, although he was generally speaking a very simple man who enjoyed country life, had few servants and did not hanker after riches.  His marriage was generally happy, though he did have romantic friendships with other women, mostly conducted by letter.   His wife died in 1960, around the age of 90, and he himself died in 1967.

Catherine Howard Part II

After her lover’s departure, Catherine got a position at court as maid of honor to Henry’s new bride Anne of Cleves. Her youth and charm were enough to attract the King who was horrified his new wife’s plainness and lack of courtly grace. Henry blamed Cromwell for arranging a marriage for him with the German princess, whom he did not find attractive... and within a few months, had managed to arrange an annulment of the marriage. Anne was content to stay in England, and be adopted as the “Kings sister”, with a handsome income. She had not found her marriage very happy but she and Henry got on well, once they had ended their marriage. He was now madly in love with the young and lovely Howard girl. The Howards and the Catholic faction in general were delighted at the downfall of Cromwell, and because the King’s wife was now a catholic and the Protestant alliance was over… Henry at first was devoted to his young wife, but he began to find “keeping up with her”, exhausting. He was around 50, an old man by the standards of the day, and his obesity was causing him serious health problems. She was young and lively and very immature. Pain from his ulcerated legs made him bad tempered. Catherine, before long, found a young man of the court, Thomas Culpepper, more attractive. Culpepper was a distant relative of hers, and had become a great favourite of Henry’s. However, there is a possibility that he was involved in the rape of a lower class woman. Henry pardoned the offender (who might have been Thomas’ older brother who was also called Thomas) but he remained unware that his new wife had not been a virgin when she married him, and that she was now involved in a relationship with Culpeper. When he and Catherine went on a progress in the North, her behaviour became very indiscreet. Her lady in waiting Jane, Lady Rochford, the widow of Anne Boleyn’s brother, seems to have played a dangerous role of helping the lovers to meet, in secret. Other ladies in her service were increasingly aware that something was going on. Some of Catherine’s women had been her friends during her days living with the Duchess Agnes, so they knew her secrets. Mary Lassells, one of the women of the Norfolk household, was sister to the Protestant reformer, John Lassells. When he suggested that she apply for a post in Catherine’s household, as other young women had done, she said that she would not do so because “Catherine was light in behaviour”. Catherine’s past was about to catch up with her and her lack of intelligence and self-discipline was now leading her towards disaster. She was engaged in an indiscreet affair with Culpepper, which was known to Lady Rochford and suspected by her other ladies. She had people in her household, including Dereham, who knew about her past in the Duchess of Norfolk house. Thomas Cranmer, who was the Archbishop and leader of the Reformed faction, was made aware of her previous affairs…. Henry was still in love with his wife, and Cranmer hardly dared to tell him that the bad news about her. He left a paper in the King’s seat in Church, In November 1541, to tell him what had been found out about the young Queen. Henry was devastated, as evidence emerged of Catherine’s pre-marital lovers and then the fact that she was involved with Culpepper and that the 2 of them had been cuckolding him. Catherine refused to admit a pre contract with Dereham though that might have meant there was a slight chance that she would not be considered guilty of treason as she would not have been the King’s legal wife. She refused to admit her affair with Culpeper. The two men were however convicted of high treason in December 1541 and were executed. Henry was sunk in gloom and did not immediately proceed against his wife, who had been taken from court and sent to Sion Abbey. Her Howard relatives were imprisoned and accused of concealment of treason... on the ground that they knew of Catherin’s sexual history. In February 1542, she was taken to the Tower, and she and Lady Rochford were executed on 13th February. Unlike her cousin, Anne Boleyn, Catherine was a foolish young girl who had little substance. but she was very young and had indeed been ill served by the Howard family, who had not done much to ensure she was trained or educated, and who had encourage the match with Henry, without caring that she was too childish, selfish and irresponsible to cope as a royal consort.

Catherine Howard Part I

Catherine Howard was the 5th wife of Henry VIII, and the cousin of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Anne’s mother was a Howard, who had married Sir Thomas Boleyn... who came from a more modest background. Catherine’s father, Lord Edmund Howard was a soldier, a younger son and very poor. He had a large family and married twice more after the death of Joyce Culpepper, Catherine’s mother. The date of Catherine’s birth is not firmly fixed, but it was probably around 1520-23. Her mother died when she was a child, and unluckily, she was sent to her step grandmother, Agnes Duchess of Norfolk, to be cared for. The old Dowager Duchess was not a very attentive mother figure. She left Catherine among the young girls of her household, and while she in theory was meant to train them in ladylike behaviour, she seems to have been neglectful. Anne Boleyn had been sent abroad to royal courts, to further her education – but she was intelligent whereas Catherine does not seem to have been very clever. She was not given much training or education - though she did learn music and was literate. The young girl’s friends among the “maidens” of the household were let run wild and behind the Duchess’s back, they frolicked and amused themselves. They managed to allow the young men of the household into their sleeping chamber... Catherine grew up in this atmosphere. In her early teens, she was involved in an affair with her music master, Henry Manox, who was older than her. It was not fully consummated but Catherine had been “groomed” for “easy sex” and was accustomed to the casual romping atmosphere of the “maidens’ chamber-.
 The Duchess seemed to occasionally pay attention to what was going on, and physically punished some of the offenders, but then tended to leave things alone. A few years after the Manox affair, Catherine fell in love with Francis Dereham, one of the Duchess’ secretaries. She and he exchanged vows, called each other husband and wife, and were considered by the custom of the day to be engaged, and when their affair became physical, they were considered informally married. The Duchess found out about the affair, and lost her temper. Dereham was dismissed and went to Ireland. Catherine may have missed him and hoped they might be able to marry - but he was a poor retainer and in spite of her being poor as well, she had Howard blood. It was unlikely that she would be allowed to marry a “nobody”.

George III's family

 The daughters of George III were 6 in number... and they had -by royal standards, sad and difficult lives in many ways.
 George III was married as a young man to Charlotte of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, a German princess. It was, in early years, quite a happy marriage and George was amazingly for a King, faithful to his wife. They had 15 children, and all of them lived to adulthood, except the 2 youngest boys, Alfred and Octavius. George was a very moral young man, who doesn’t seem to have indulged in pre-marital affairs, and he tried to do his best for his people. 

His court was rigid and formal but in private the Royal family lived a simple life. He got the nickname Farmer George, from his interest in agriculture. His sons were not nearly so proper or moral. From their young manhood, George was at odds with them over their lavish spending,  their drinking, and their sex lives. He attempted to control them by the Royal Marriages Act, which stated that they could not legally marry without royal permission. However as is well known, he became increasingly unstable. It is impossible to know whether it was a mental illness, or possibly the effects of the painful illness porphyria. Eventually he had to be confined and his eldest son, George IV, became Prince Regent. While he was still in control of his life, George III found that while he could refuse them permission to marry, he could not stop his sons from pursuing a wild lifestyle, and extravagant and selfish behaviour…
However he had control over his daughters' private lives, and he did not want the girls to marry. Charlotte, the eldest, the Princess Royal, managed to get herself married to Frederick, heir to the Duke of Wurttemberg – but she was already 31 when she got permission to wed. She moved to Germany, but her other sisters were left in a very difficult positon.
 George III was now mentally fragile and the court and family were afraid of his becoming upset. Queen Charlotte was also unwilling for them to leave, and she had become increasingly unhappy and ill tempered, since her husband’s decline.
 She was afraid of George, and avoided him. She was also very controlling and strict with her daughters. She was upset by the fact that the King in his confused state of mind was claiming that he was married to a lady of the court and not to his Queen.
 George was probably giving way to desires and fantasies that he would have managed to  suppress, when he was mentally stable. Because of the situation, the princesses ended up leading very sheltered lives, almost like nuns, having little society and no prospect of royal or other suitors. As a result, it was probably inevitable that rumours would arise of romances between them and the few men they met, i.e. the Court gentlemen. The second daughter, Princess Augusta, was rumoured to have fallen in love with an equerry, Sir Brent Spencer. There were rumours that Elizabeth had had a secret marriage or romance which led to a pregnancy. While George III was still King, it was impossible for the daughters to marry, legally. However after the Regency, the daughters had more freedom. The Prince Regent was fond of his sisters, and he was willing to give permission for them to marry, though it was too late for them to have children. Elizabeth married a German prince, at the age of 48. It is possible that some of them entered into marriages, either before or after their father’s descent into mania, which were not strictly legal, but gave them a religious ceremony and bond…
 The most persistent scandalous rumours have centred on the 5th daughter - Princess Sophia, who is believed to have had an illegitimate child..  It seems likely to be true... The father was almost certainly Thomas Garth, an equerry who was many years her senior and said to be a very plain man with a birth mark on his face.  However the daughters did not meet many men, the men of the Household were all they had to befriend and socialise with, so it is possible that she did fall in love with him.."just because he was there..."
In spite of the sadness and difficulties of their lives, the women seem to have made the best of things and achieved a degree of settlement and happiness.  Amelia died young, after an unhappy love affair.. Sophia lived till old age, occasionally seeing her son, who seems to have been a rather unsatisfactory character.  Mary made  a respectable if not very romantic marriage, after her brother became Regent.. marrying her cousin William Duke of Gloucester.   Elizabeth and the Princess Royal, Charlotte, seem to have been happy with their lives in Germany.... Sadly their marriages were too late in life for them to have children... so when Princess Charlotte, the Regent's daughter died, it was the Royal Dukes who had to rush into marriage, to provide a new heir to the throne.....