John Duncan (1866–1945) was a Scottish painter closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and Symbolism. His art was inspired by Arthurian legends, Celtic folklore, and other mythological subjects. Although Duncan shared the Pre-Raphaelite’s distaste for materialism and the ugliness of the industrialized world and was driven by the same spirituality and idealism, his graphical style sets his art apart from his contemporaries and likens it to Art Nouveau. Some of his peers claimed he was a madman, Duncan admitted to hearing ‘faerie music’ while he painted. Duncan’s account seems to imply he may have had a sense of the longing C.S. Lewis called “Joy”.
John Duncan ~ Saint Bride ~ 1913John Duncan ~ Hymn to the Rose ~1907John Duncan ~ The Children of Lyr ~ 1914John Duncan ~ Happiness ~ 1900John Duncan ~ Yorinda and Yoringel in the Witche’s Wood ~1909John Duncan ~ Angus Og, God of Love and Courtesy ~ 1908John Duncan ~ Helene Schlapp Iona ~ 1908John Duncan ~ The Queen Of Sheba ~1923
Evelyn De Morgan (1855 – 1919), née Pickering, was an English artist whose work reflects a transition from Pre-Raphaelitism to Symbolism. Her paintings of women in allegorical themes were influenced by the Italian Renaissance and the Pre-Raphealite Edwards Burne-Jones. She was an active feminist and suffragette. Although she may have been regarded as “liberal” in her time, her activities as a feminist reflected humanism within the framework of the traditional religious and philosophical view of the world.
Evelyn De Morgan ~ The Worship of Mammon ~ 1909
The Gilded Cage, painted in the 1919, was the last work Morgan completed before her death. The painting is profound work of symbolism. To interpret the work, it will help to study The Worship of Mammon, which she painted in 1909. The painting refers to the passage in Matthew 6, in which Jesus states, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” In the painting, the woman holds desperately to the knee of the statue, looking into his face, which stares down at her remorselessly. The statue holds out a bag of gold, but the woman ignores the money. She has moved from the serving of wealth, to the love of Mammon himself and so has cut herself off from the love of God and has doomed herself.
Evelyn De Morgan ~The Gilded Cage ~ 1919
The concern of spiritual well-being independent of materialism is continued in the Gilded Cage. A richly dressed couple are shown in a luxurious room. A bird in the gilded cage hangs above the woman’s older husband, he seems to be lost in thought. The woman has tossed her broken jewelry to the floor as she outstretches her arms to the open window. She watches traveling group of dancers and musicians with yearning. A bird flies freely above the the dancers, the state of the free bird contrasts the bird in the gilded cage. This painting also evokes a passage in the book of Matthew, after Jesus condemns serving mammon, he refers to the state of well being of birds,”Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they.”The broken jewelry at feet of the woman reflects the wisdom of passage, the gathering of wealth is ultimately empty. The state of joyful contentment of the dancing figures outside the window is akin to the fowl Jesus described.
Stephanie Chatfield wrote an interpretation of the Gilded Cage, the article is written like most that I find which examine this period. Chatfield focused on the position Victorian women in the 19th century society from the standpoint of economy. Her comment near the end of the article,”Women in the U.S. still do not earn as much as men,” reflects an ignorance to the symbolism in the painting, the people who dance freely outside the window symbolize spiritual well-being of a simple life without material wealth. But unfortunately, the axiom that paid labor is freedom and dignity has been pounded in the female conscious. Contemporary authors are so caught in the mental framework of the industrial system they can not escape the cage of Mammon. Children are raised to be jobholders, the organization of the system perpetuates mass sickness. Erich Fromm wrote in The Revolution of Hope,” Must we produce sick people in order to have a healthy economy, or can we use our material resources, our inventions, our computers to serve the ends of man?”
Evelyn De Morgan ~ Flora ~1894Evelyn-De-Morgan ~ DryadEvelyn-De-Morgan ~ Daughters of the Mist