at Leighton House, Holland Park, until 1 October 2023 

…together with De Morgans and the Sea at the Queen’s House, Greenwich. 

Evelyn de Morgan is an artist I have been delighted and intrigued by ever since she was featured as one of the Pre-Raphaelite Sisters at the National Portrait Gallery in 2019. Unusually for a woman of her time she received a thorough education: her mother insisted that she benefit from 'the same instruction as her brother'. She studied languages ancient and modern - Latin and Greek; French, German, and Italian - and also received a thorough grounding in classical literature and mythology, not to mention history and science. Her uncle, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope was a second-generation Pre-Raphaelite – which would presumably make her ‘third generation’ – and from the age of 20 she regularly visited him in Florence. She married the ceramicist William de Morgan, and supported his work using the income from hers. The couple regularly spent half of the year in Florence, and like the other women I am talking about this summer, this ‘different vista’ influenced her work., with Botticelli as one of her greatest inspirations. 

Her ‘elemental’ connection is not one of the four identified by the Greeks, but a very specific element in the more modern sense: gold. De Morgan created a fascinating series of  drawings using this precious metal as a pigment. Remarkable in their delicacy and intricacy, some were used as preparatory studies for later paintings, however rarefied the material, although their high finish suggests that they were also considered to be works of art in their own right. They are currently on show at Leighton House, Holland Park (West London), in a free exhibition in the relatively recently opened Visitor Centre (the house itself has an admission charge). 

My talk will discuss the unusual technique, and investigate what the use of this sophisticated medium meant for the artist, placing the Gold Drawings in the context of her work as a whole. 

The exhibition is curated by the De Morgan Foundation, the custodian of much of her output, and a tireless promoter of the work of both Evelyn and William: 'pop-up' displays and exhibitions appear across the country with increasing regularity. As well as the Leighton House Gold Drawings exhibition, they have also created a display at the Queen’s House in Greenwich, which is now used as the 'picture gallery' of  the National Maritime Museum. Entitled De Morgans and the Sea, I will use this display as an excuse to connect them to ‘Water’. As I will also feature the pieces by Williams de Morgan's which are featured in the Queen's House I can also connect them to 'Earth' and 'Fire' - as I will with Lucie Rie.