reinventing herself, losing her rustic accent and becoming one of the
central figures of the later Pre-Raphaelite movement – she is even
said to have inspired the character of Eliza Doolittle. Morris later
became the principal sitter for Rossetti, with whom she embarked
on a long-running affair after Siddal’s
death; between 1865 and 1876, she
would spend time with her lover
away from prying eyes at Kelmscott
Manor in Oxfordshire, apparently
with the full knowledge of her
husband, who rented the property
jointly with Ross-etti. Morris appears
in many of Rossetti’s pictures,
instantly recognisable with her cloud
of dark hair, low brow and classical
features. ‘She was probably the ulti-
mate Pre-Raphaelite model, as she
had such distinctive looks, and her
beauty endured even as an old-
woman,’ says Alison Smith.
Yet Morris was far from a passive
muse – her husband had set up a cottage industry producing decora-
tive works, and she created her own role within the pioneering Arts
and Crafts company, helped by her embroidery skills. As
the business expanded, she took over the management of the
needlework commissions, supervising the stitching of altar cloths,
vestments, curtains and coverlets. An evening bag embroidered by
Morris is now held at the V&A, its exquisitely sewn flowers showing
the care and patience that she devoted to her craft. She passed this
talent on to her two daughters, both of whom themselves became
noted embroiderers.
Annie Miller had a similar trajectory to Jane Morris, rising from
an impoverished background through modelling and appearing in
celebrated works such as Rossetti’s Woman in Yellow. Holman Hunt,
who discovered Miller and became besotted with her, sent her to be
educated, but their on-off relationship eventually foundered. Miller
went on to wed a m i lita r y gent lema n, set t ling into a li fe of com for t-
able middle-class prosperity. Not all models enjoyed such happy
endings; Fanny Cornforth also had a long-running affair with
Rossetti (something of a theme among Pre-Raphaelite muses), yet
ended her days penniless and senile in a West Sussex asylum. In
common with many of her peers, Cornforth saw the brotherhood
as a means of advancement, but unlike Morris and Miller, she did
not manage to secure the elusive long-term security that was only
achievable through a fortuitous marriage.
Each of the 12 women in the exhibition had different motivations
for their associations with the Pre-Raphaelites, but what unites
them is their ambition, and a desire to shape and control their own
lives in a way that ran bravely against 19th-century expectations.
The movement broke new ground with its art, but the most compel-
ling stories of all are the ones behind the paintings, the colourful
histories of its seemingly serene muses.
‘Pre-Raphaelite Sisters’ is at the National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.
uk) from 17 October to 26 January 2020.Above: Jane Morris ( front
row, second from right)
with her husband William
Morris (standing, back
right), Edward Burne-Jones
(sitting behind her with his
father), his wife Georgiana
( far left) and the children
of both families in 1874.
Clockwise from right: an
evening bag stitched by Jane
Morris in 1878. Dante
Gabriel Rossetti’s ‘Woman
in Yellow’ (1863), featuring
Annie Miller. An
1865 photograph of
Fanny Cornforth