Marie Spartali Stillman

Marie Stillman ( Spartali; Greek: Μαρία Σπαρτάλη; 10 March 1844 – 6 March 1927) was a British painter. A member of the second generation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, she is regarded as the greatest female artist of that movement.

She had one of the longest-running careers of the Pre-Raphaelites, spanning sixty years and producing over one hundred and fifty works, including Love's Messenger and romantic scenes from the Divine Comedy. Though her work with the Brotherhood began as a model, she trained and became a painter, earning praise from Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others.

Early life Spartali was the eldest child of Michael Spartali, a wealthy merchant, principal of the firm Spartali & Co and Greek consul-general based in London from 1866 to 1879. Michael had moved to London around 1828, where he married Euphrosyne Varsini, the daughter of a Greek merchant from Genoa. Spartali was of Greek descent. The family split time between their home at Clapham Common in London and their country home on the Isle of Wight. In the city, Spartali's father was fond of lavish garden parties where he invited up and coming writers and artists. It was at one such event where Marie would first be introduced to the art world.

Marriage and death In 1870, Spartali met American journalist and painter William J. Stillman. The couple had previously posed for Rossetti in his famous Dante pictures, though it is not certain if that is how they first met. Interestingly, although her husband was an artist himself, Marie never sat for him as a model. The pair married in 1871 against her father's wishes, causing a rift that would never fully heal.

As her husband was a foreign correspondent for The Times, the couple divided their time between London and Florence (1878–83), and later Rome (1889–96). Originally from the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Art and career

Introduction to the Art World Known for their Greek heritage and beauty, Spartali along with her cousins, Maria Zambaco and Aglaia Coronio, were known collectively among friends as "the Three Graces," after the Charites of Greek mythology (Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia). Marie was very tall, and cut an imposing figure—in her later years dressing entirely in black and purposefully attracting much attention throughout her life.

In the house of the Greek businessman A.C. Ionides at Tulse Hill, in south London, Marie first met the artist James McNeill Whistler and playwright Algernon Charles Swinburne. The meeting made quite the impression, for Swinburne was reported to have said that "She is so beautiful that I want to sit down and cry". Her equally striking sister Christina Spartali was the model for Whistler's painting The Princess from the Land of Porcelain (1863–1865).

The Pre-Raphaelites In 1864, Whistler introduced Spartali to the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Marie Spartali Stillman, could be considered a candidate for Symbolism because her figures "... have an immobility, a silence, a pose almost suspended, a slow hesitation in their rare movements, which make them resemble something like sleepwalkers".

Commemoration In January 2023, English Heritage announced that a blue plaque would be unveiled later that year on a house in Clapham, where she took her first steps in becoming an artist. The plaque was installed in April 2023 at The Shrubbery, 2 Lavender Gardens, Clapham, her family home when she was a young woman and where she later painted and prepared for exhibitions.

Works (incomplete) David Elliott lists more than 170 works in his book. The following are the better-known works, as determined by their mention in other books which discuss the artist.

The Lady Prays – Desire (1867; Lord Lloyd-Webber Collection) Mariana (c.1867–1869; Private collection) Portrait of a young woman (1868) Forgetfulness (1869; Private collection) La Pensierosa (1870; Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin–Madison) Self-Portrait (1871; Delaware Art Museum) Self-Portrait in Medieval Dress (1874) Portrait of Effie Holding a Lily and a Rose Posy in an English Garden (1876) The Last Sight of Fiammetta (c. 1876) Gathering Orange Blossoms (1879; St. Lawrence University) The Meeting of Dante and Beatrice on All Saints' Day (1881) Madonna Pietra Degli Scrovigni (1884; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) Love's Messenger (1885; Delaware Art Museum) A Florentine Lily (c.1885–1890; Private collection) The May Feast at the House of Folco Portinari, 1274 (1887) Dante at Verona (1888; Private collection) Upon a Day Came Sorrow unto Me (1888) A Wreath of Roses (1888) A Florentine Lily (c.1885–1890) A Florentine Wedding Feast (1890) The Enchanted Garden, also known as Messer Ansaldo showing Madonna Dionara his Enchanted Garden (1889) – This illustrates a tale from The Decameron Convent Lily (1891) Cloister Lilies (1891; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) Dante and Beatrice, Scene from the Vita Nuova (1891) Saint George (1892; Delaware Art Museum)

How the Virgin Mary Came to Brother Conrad of Offida and Laid Her Son in His Arms (1892; Wightwick Manor, National Trust, UK) A Rose from Armida's Garden (1894) Love Sonnets (1894; Delaware Art Museum) Beatrice (1896; Delaware Art Museum) Portrait of Mrs W. St Clair Baddeley (1896) Beatrice (1898; Private collection) The Pilgrim Folk (1914; Delaware Art Museum)