Olivia Grant

I always delight when I find new-to-me actresses whose looks strike me as particularly Pre-Raphaelite. I just recently finished watching series 1 of the BBC show Lark Rise to Candleford (an excellent series), and the actress Olivia Grant ensorcelled me with her luminous pale skin and enormous pale eyes. If she was truly from the Victorian era, I think she would have been a stunner for certain.




Particularly, she looks like she could have been the model for this artwork, Hope by Burne-Jones (thanks Jen for the ID!)

Closing on our first house continues, packing is fast and furious. Apologies for the quiet around this blog, but there's good reason!

What is a Phlumbudge?

Searching through Christies' records of past lots sold, I came across a listing for a Burne-Jones set of cartoons and drawings. I am a sucker for his caricature work, and I was captivated by the descriptions of what was included in the lot. I especially loved this part:

The album also contains some of the whimsical drawings that Burne-Jones was always making. Connoisseurs will recognise such familiar themes as the amorous love-birds and the 'wallypug', one of a series of amiable mythical beasts (the 'phlumbudge', a fat little bird, was another) with which he entertained his children - children, that is, of all ages, including, as his wife put it, 'the child that was always in himself' (Memorials II, p. 66).

There is no image of a wallypug or a phlumbudge. What do you think they look like?