Customer Reviews

A Pre-Raphaelite Marriage: The Lives and Works of Marie Spartali Stillman & W

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This is a well detailed telling of the improbable marriage between Marie Spartali and William J. Stillman. From my reading of this book, William Stillman was self-absorbed, overly rigid, and willing to take moral stands when they would damage him most. He would turn his back on friends, carry out vendettas against some who had once been friends. As a diplomat, he would abandon his duty as an agent of American government and do what he thought best. In one case, he actually took sides in a conflict, when--as a diplomat--he should have been clearing his actions with the State Department (he did not get along very well with William Seward, the Secretary of State during one of his diplomatic assignments). Stillman dabbled with painting (but never made the commitment needed), photography, diplomacy, and journalism.

The fact that he married a wonderfully talented woman, who was considered quite desirable in her day, is almost a mystery as one reads this book. What did she see in him? Marie's father was opposed to the marriage; Marie's friends were doubtful about the wisdom of her marrying Stillman. Indeed, Stillman sometimes feuded with Marie's friends. Marie Spartali was the daughter of a well off family. She was very talented and did things that women of her time weren't expected to do. She was a fine artist (I am not an expert, but I found her paintings to be pretty impressive). She was a model for some of the finer painters of her era (some of whom were from the pre-Raphaelite ranks).

This work is a good study of how Marie's and William's lives came together, how their life together unfolded, and the many challenges that they faced (some of which were self-induced by William's actions). The portrayal of Marie and William, his children from an earlier marriage and the progeny from their own marriage is richly told. I do not have enough knowledge of the two main characters of this study or the context in which they worked to judge how accurate or insightful this volume is. But for those who are curious about this odd couple and the context within which their lives unfolded, this looks to me to be a good work.