Wives and Stunners: The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Muses

A vivid, richly observed, and compellingly readable account of the women who held the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in thrall Essentially a domestic biography whose main concern is the tragicomedy of manners enacted by a closely knit group of friends and lovers, this book tells the story of Janey Morris, Georgie Burne-Jones, Lizzie Siddall, Effie Gray, and the less well-known Marie Spartali, Aglaia Coronio, and Mary Zambacco. These women were the wives, mistresses, and muses of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the inspiration behind the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, and John Millais. Set against the background of mid-Victorian bohemian England, this book vividly evokes the world they inhabited and the lives they lived. It recounts the romances and friendships between the artists and the "stunners" in a lively and original way, and will appeal to anyone interested in Victorian England, the history of the Pre-Raphaelites, and, significantly, to everyone who wants to read a spellbinding story of a bygone era.