Modern Gender Politics: The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy of Evelyn De Morgan

Evelyn Pickering De Morgan’s position at the end of the Victorian Age situates her uniquely at several crossroads of time. Her artistic style and influence intersect with that of the Pre-Raphaelites, Aestheticism, and the Symbolist movement, and her life coincides with early feminism, the Suffrage Movement in Britain, and the Great War, all informing the content of her work. Scholars have informally positioned her as a feminist Pre-Raphaelite artist, as a seemingly antidotal contrast to earlier members and followers of the Brotherhood. Symbolism in her art threads through a variety of allegorical, political, and spiritual subjects to convey ideological messages to her audience about the nature of the soul. I will argue that her status as a feminist Pre-Raphaelite artist is, in fact, informed by influences from Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, particularly in her use of personal symbolism in her art. By examining the artistic relationship between De Morgan and Rossetti, I argue that a feminist strain in her work acknowledges the symbolic connection from Rossetti’s influence, while still emphasizing her own agency in her artmaking. Comparisons made between De Morgan and fellow artist Marie Spartali Stillman will underscore this, uncovering places for further critical examination of gender in Victorian art.