Jane's view on Kelmscott surroundings

pics: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g503804-d519651-Reviews-Kelmscott_Manor-Kelmscott_Gloucestershire_England.html

Whilst Rossetti was living there with Jane, she wrote to her friend Philip Webb -

"The country I find is not so beautiful after one gets away from the river,

thought it is all delightful and home-like to me, and I love it, still I can well
understand others not being much impressed with it, who are not used
to it; every field is lovely by itself, and every house, but somehow when
one looks far out there is a sameness, a bareness of tree, which makes one
begin to want more, but of course I am only speaking of the few miles in
the immediate vicinity."

Water-Willow picture by Rossetti

The young May Morris did not find the landscape factual enough. In her
Introduction to Vol. IV of The Collected Works she says of the painting:

"The Water-Willow picture by Rossetti is a portrait of my mother. It is
not so happy a likeness as some of his other studies, the face being rather

pinched and the nose too long. Mr Rossetti brought into the background
of the picture Kelmscott Manor, where he was living at the time of painting it, the little old church with its elegant open belfry, and our boat-house with the Wshing-punt moored below … We girls were fond of the picture when it was Wnished, but it bothered me to have house and church and boat-house all brought together, when they were in diVerent directions. I confided to my mother my doubts as to the morality of this, and demanded an explanation. But the child’s ‘That isn’t how things really are!’ can’t be met by explanation."

The original is now in the Delaware Art Museum at Wilmington, but a copy made by Fairfax Murray in 1890 may be seen at Kelmscott Manor.

May Morris on her pony Laura

An Evening with Dr Jan Marsh and Frank C. Sharp, editors of ‘The Collected Letters of Jane Morris’

Thursday 1st November - An Evening with Dr Jan Marsh and Frank C. Sharp, editors of ‘The Collected Letters of Jane Morris’, 7:00pm

Dr Jan Marsh and Frank C. Sharp will be joining us at the De Morgan Centre to discuss their new book. The edited volume contains over 500 letters of Jane Morris, wife of William Morris and a renowned Victorian artists’ model. The letters give an insight into Jane’s personality, and many of them are being published for the first time.

Jan Marsh is a researcher and author specialising in artists and writers. She has researched and written extensively on the Pre-Raphaelite circle and Victorian women artists, and is currently developing the late-Victorian catalogue at the National Portrait Gallery. Frank C. Sharp has written extensively on William Morris for the Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies and the William Morris Society Journal in America.

Join us for this fascinating talk and learn about the enigmatic woman who was a model for several of Evelyn De Morgan’s paintings.

Spaces are limited, so book now to reserve your place! Tickets are £12.00 each. This includes entry to the talk and a free glass of sparkling wine.

http://www.demorgan.org.uk/whats-on

Thanks Kimberley for noticing this.

Kelmscott ordnance survey map

Jane Burden

This is thought to be the only picture of Jane before she married and was still Jane Burden. Wearing ordinary clothes of c.1860, not the flowing unadorned dress of the Rossetti photographs of 1865.
By permission of the V & A Library.

Kelmscott from above

http://stock.jasonhawkes.com/media/0cafa1e0-3275-11e1-a9f8-fbfcd1aff09f-kelmscott-manor