Coolest Cake Ever

Many thanks to William Morris on Facebook for sharing the coolest cake ever made...a gingerbread recreation of Red House!!


Blog Princess G talks about the process here. I absolutely love all the details! There's Jane, Topsy, and baby Jenny made of fondant on a carpet inspired by the Willow pattern!

On Feminism

I wanted to draw your attention to a fascinating article over at le projet d'amour, entitled On Feminism: Romantic Femininity. I appreciate the discussion, though I'm not sure I've personally ever felt any negative gender implications from the artworks I love. But I found her comment at the end about Bright Star especially thought-provoking.

Salutation of Beatrice

A newly discovered painting of Jane Morris by Rossetti, along with several "new" sketches, are going on the auction block. This portrait is absolutely beautiful...it's definitely a new favorite of mine, and I look forward to hearing more about it as the scholars investigate.

(thanks Shane)

Victorian Hugos

Thanks to a blog post from Merrian for drawing my attention to this wonderful Pre-Raphaelite shout-out on the popular website, io9.

They are doing honorary Hugos, an annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy award, for Victorians. And William Morris is acknowledged in a list of literature that would have been nominated for the hypothetical Hugo that year. It's a fun idea, and an interesting article. Go read!

Brave

Thanks to ArtMagick for sharing these wonderful comparative images of the new Pixar film, Brave, and a few Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian artworks!

Happy Birthday, Topsy!

So, today (eyes clock)....Yesterday... (ok, I count it as today still since I haven't gone to bed yet) was William Morris' birthday!! In celebration, a couple of treats to share.

First, the best cake ever...a William Morris birthday cake in a very Morris-ian lettering, from William Morris on Facebook:


Second, a portrait of Topsy I had never seen before, posted by Kirsty over at The Kissed Mouth along with a wonderful blog post about his life.


Of all the portraits I've ever seen of him, this seems to sum him up best...too busy to even stay still for a portrait, working hard on one project or another. Dear Topsy...the man whose physician diagnosed his cause of death as being "simply being William Morris, and having done more work than most ten men."

Persephone Knits

Thanks to Aurora for finding this rather surprising Pre-Raphaelite sighting in line at the grocery store. Vogue Knitting magazine's current issue: