Boys of the Brotherhood + their Pre-raph sisters

Two sisters sat on the grass, they were beggars, performing on streets for money. Behind them two rainbows emerged out of the remaining dark clouds, which had soaked the scarf that gave them shelter. The younger girl stares at the colourful arches in awe, however her sister turns her face the other direction, letting the warm sun soak into her skin. Underneath the damp scarf, she wears a sign around her neck saying "pity the blind"

Lady Lillith (1866-68) - Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Modelling in this piece is Fanny Cornthorth, who Rossetti had repeated affairs with. Naming the piece after Lilith is a reference to the sexual nature of their relationship.

Unlike Eve, Lilith was made from the same soil as Adam, not his rib. As a result, she refused to be subservient to Adam and ended up leaving him and the garden of Eden. She became a symbol of sexual promiscuity and sin.

“She represents the New Woman, free of male control, scourge of the patriarchal Victorian family,” - Virginia M. Allen, historian.

Ophelia (1851-52) - John Everett Millais

Depicts the death of Ophelia from the Shakespeare play Hamlet.