The Hireling Shepherd

The Hireling Shepherd (1851) By William Holman Hunt

Oil on canvas Size 76.4 x 109.5 cm

The Hireling Shepherd was painted as a snub at the Church

and highlights problems within the religion and its

congregation, which is represented by sheep, running astray

without spiritual guidance.

The shepherd represents the Protestant Church while the

shepherdess the Roman Catholic Church. The lamb on her

lap eating green apples, symbolise death.

Ligeia Siren

Ligeia Siren (1873) 42 x 34 cm coloured chalk

This piece, Ligeia Siren is said to have been inspired by a short story by Edgar Allen Poe, which is based around the legend of the Ligeia.

'Isabella' by John Everett Millias

My person favourite Pre-Raphaelite painting is Isabella by John Everett Millias, I love the story it tells and the symbolism included in the painting. It is an Oil on Canvas. 103 x 142.8cm

The information provided by the Walker where it is exhibited is as follows:

'Isabella' was one of the first paintings made in the new Pre-Raphaelite style. It was begun shortly after the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848, when Millais was only 19.

The harshly brilliant colour combined with sharp detail, deliberately unbalanced composition and self-consciously angularity and flatness were all controversial features of Pre-Raphaelitism. The movement was loosely inspired by painting methods from early Italian painting, from the time before Raphael.

The subject was taken from a poem by John Keats, itself based on a story by the 14th century Italian writer Boccaccio. It tells of the love between Isabella, the sister of wealthy Florentine merchants, and their poor, low-born apprentice Lorenzo. The jealous brothers murder Lorenzo, but his body is found by Isabella. She cut off the head and buried it in a pot of basil which she watered with her tears.

The ending is hinted at in this painting by the pot of herbs in the background. There are also many other signs of the coming violence and tragedy. One of the brothers is angrily cracking nuts. He also aims a kick at Isabella's dog, whilst his own sleeps beneath his chair. Dogs are often used as symbols of loyalty and fidelity in paintings. The lovers are sharing a blood orange, signifying the later spilling of Lorenzo's blood.

The highly individualised faces include a portrait of Millais' friend and fellow Pre-Raphaelite Brother Rossetti (rear centre), drinking from a wineglass.

In summary these are the symbols that the painting contains:

• Pot of basil in the paintings background alludes to the ending of Keats poem in which Isabella hides Lorenzo's head.
• The blood orange being passed to Isabella is a hint both to passion and to the severing of Lorenzos head and spilt blood.
• The scowling tormenting bothers shows the violence that is about to unfold in the story.
• Some people have suggested that the shadow of the nutcracker and its placement may be a deliberate phallic reference.
• The families posture shows a tension and a growing unease within the family and the brothers opposite are fixated upon the exchange happening between the lovers.
• Passion flowers are growing up the arch behind Lorenzo and Isabella, their white petals symbolising the innocence of their affection towards each other.

The Doom Fulfilled

The Doom Fulfilled

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt ARA (1833-1898)

Oil on canvas - 154 x 138 cm

This painting describes the Perseus legend that appears in William Morris's "The Doom of King Acrisius" from The Earthly Paradise.

"The Doom of King Acrisius" in The Earthly Paradise. 5 vols. London: Longmans, Green, 1896.

He beheld the sea,

And saw a huge wave rising mightily

Above the smaller breakers of the shore,

Which in its green breast for a minute bore

A nameless horror, that it cast aland

And left, a huge mass on the oozing sand,

That scarcely seemed a living thing to be,

Until at last those twain it seemed to see,

And gathering up its strange limbs, towards them passed.

And therewithal a dismal trumpet-blast

Rang from the tower, and from the distant town

The wind in answer brought loud wails adown.

       Then Perseus gently put the maid from him,

Who sank down shivering in her every limb,

Silent despite herself for fear and woe,

As down the beach he ran to meet the foe.

       But he, beholding Jove's son drawing near,

A great black fold against him did uprear,

Maned with grey tufts of hair, as some old tree

Hung round with moss, in lands where vapours be;

From his bare skull his red eyes glowed like flame

And from his open mouth a sound there came,

Strident and hideous, that still louder grew

As that rare sight of one in arms he knew:

But godlike, fearless, burning with desire,

The adamant jaws and lidless eyes of fire

Did Perseus mock, and lightly leapt aside

As forward did the torture-chamber glide

Of his huge head, and ere the beast could turn,

One moment bright did blue-edged Herpe burn,

The next was quenched in the black flow of blood;

Then in confused folds the hero stood,

His bright face shadowed by the jaws of death,

His hair blown backward by the poisonous breath;

But all that passed, like lightning-lighted street

In the dark night, as the blue blade did meet

The wrinkled neck, and with no faltering stroke,

Like a God's hand the fell enchantment broke,

And then again in place of crash and roar,

He heard the shallow breakers on the shore,

And o'er his head the sea-gull's plaintive cry,

Careless as Gods for who might live or die.

 — "The Doom of King Acrisius," I, 274-75]

Morris, William.