As Victorian reproduction artists, we all love roses, tea cups and chatelaines. They’re probably the most beautiful, dainty, tiny things we have ever seen. Me, I have rose prints on almost every room at my home, and quite a few printed reproductions of more roses, pretty ladies and lovely things scattered around.
But Victorianism (saying it as a very wide term) is not only that! The wideness of this era, the contradictions of this time and its complexity created multi-themed artists… and in my opinion, we tend to forget this side. While I look at victorian styled crafts on the web, I am almost intoxicated with the amount of pinks and pastels that I find. I am not against pink and pastels, but there is so much more, and SO interesting! Today I want to show you a few paintings that show a little of that.

Gustave Courbet, Self-Portrait (also called The Desperate Man)
(Gustave, come back from the grave and marry me!!!)

Jean Leon Gerome, Black Bashi Bazouk
(Orientalism – probably one of the most interesting and sensual parts of Victorian Art)

John Singer Sargent, Portrait Of Edouard And Marie Louise Pailleron
(I love that evil kids and the red background – redrum!)

Jules Lefevre, Vittoria Colona
(This looks like Lefevre channeling Rafael)

Jean August Dominique Ingres, Portrait Of Louis Francois Bertin
(Look at the power of the model’s hands)

Felicien Rops, Illustration for Des Diaboliques
(Rops was the best erotic illustrator of his time)
Can we see a little more of this among the roses and the pretty girls PLEASE?
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