Marie Stillman (née Spartali) (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
: Μαρία Σπαρτάλη; 10 March 1844 – 6 March 1927) was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
painter, of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
descent. A member of the second generation of the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossett ...
, she is regarded as the greatest female artist of that movement.
Of the Pre-Raphaelites, she had one of the longest-running careers, spanning sixty years and producing over one hundred and fifty works, including ''
Love's Messenger'' and numerous romantic scenes from the ''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...
''. Though her work with the Brotherhood began as a favourite model, she soon trained and became a respected painter, earning praise from
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...
and others.
Early life
Marie 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. He had moved to London around 1828, where he married Euphrosyne Varsini, the daughter of a Greek merchant from
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
. The family split time between their home at
Clapham Common in London and their country home on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
. 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.
[Robertson, W. Graham. ''Time Was''. (1931) pp.12–13]
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.
[Elliot, David B. (2005). ''A Pre-Raphaelite Marriage: The Lives and Works of Marie Spartali Stillman and William James Stillman''. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club]
As her husband was a foreign correspondent for ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', the couple divided their time between London and
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
(1878–83), and later
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
(1889–96).
The couple had three children of their own who were raised alongside William's other three children from a previous marriage. Marie Stillman died in March 1927 in Ashburn Place in
South Kensington
South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...
, four days shy of her 83rd birthday, and was cremated at
Brookwood Cemetery
Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...
, near
Woking
Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...
, Surrey. She is interred there with her husband.
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
In Greek mythology, the Charites (; ), singular Charis (), also called the Graces, are goddesses who personify beauty and grace. According to Hesiod, the Charites were Aglaia (Grace), Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia (Grace), Thalia, who were the ...
of Greek mythology (
Aglaia,
Euphrosyne and
Thalia). Beauty aside, 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
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...
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".
[Waterman, Amanda B. ''Neo-Pre-Raphaelitism: The Final Generations'', University of Washington, 2016.]
The Pre-Raphaelites
In 1864, Whistler introduced Spartali to the Pre-Raphaelite artist
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...
.
She began sitting for him and when Spartali expressed interest in learning to paint he referred her to
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...
. Over the next five years the pair developed a close, almost familial, relationship.
Of his models, Brown said that Spartali was "the most intellectual", and maintained a deep respect for her work, chronicled in their correspondence. By 1870, Spartali had decided to pursue art professionally and with the help of her mentor made her first sale for 40 guineas.
Example of modeling works: Brown;
Burne-Jones (''
The Mill'');
Julia Margaret Cameron
Julia Margaret Cameron (; 11 June 1815 – 26 January 1879) was an English photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. She is known for her Soft focus, soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorian era, ...
; Rossetti (''
A Vision of Fiammetta'', ''
Dante's Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice'', ''
The Bower Meadow''); and
Spencer Stanhope.
Style
Because of her close links to the Brotherhood, Marie Stillman is often identified as part of the second generation of the movement. According to
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
, "She inherited the traditions and the temper of the original PRs...but she has come into her heritage by virtue or natural relationship. She is a spontaneous, sincere, naive Pre-Raphaelite".
There is, however, some academic debate as to whether this is entirely accurate. For example, Robert de la Sizeranne of ''
Le Correspondant'' noted that this new generation of Pre-Raphaelites, Marie Stillman among them, had enough in common with the
Symbolists to be considered one.
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".
Rossetti himself credited Spartali for her ability to infuse her figures with emotion, thereby elevating them to something more than mere images.
Other influences and career impacts

In 1873 both her young daughter, Euphrosyne, and her sister Christina fell ill. Stillman wrote to Ford Madox Brown that she was preoccupied with their health and felt "too weak to paint." She later clarified that whenever she did work she found herself depicting her sister in a grim state. Because of this, she took some time off painting, however Madox-Brown always speculated that she stopped because of her husband's jealousy over her successful career and continued relationship with himself.
Alongside her husband, Stillman lived in Florence, Italy for a number of years. She took great inspiration from the city around her which can be seen most prominently in her subject matter. Being in the city of
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
, she depicted numerous scenes from the ''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...
'', focusing in particular on the romance between Dante and Beatrice.
Though separated from her peers, Stillman maintained her correspondence with the PRB and Rossetti in particular who shared her love of Dante.
Exhibitions
The subjects of her paintings were typical of the Pre-Raphaelites: female figures; scenes from
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
,
Petrarch
Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists.
Petrarch's redis ...
,
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
and
Boccaccio; also Italian landscapes. She exhibited at the
Dudley Gallery in 1875, then at the
Grosvenor Gallery and its successor, the
New Gallery; at the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
; and at various galleries in the eastern USA, including the
Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. Stillman exhibited her work at the
Palace of Fine Arts at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...
in Chicago, Illinois.
A retrospective show of her work took place in the United States in 1982, and another one at the
Delaware Art Museum in 2015. The latter show transferred to the UK, opening at the
Watts Gallery at Compton, Surrey from March until 5 June 2016.
Art market
The record for her best selling painting and from a
Pre-Raphaelite
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...
female painter was established when ''
The Enchanted Garden'' (1889) sold by £874,500 ($1,162,595) at
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, on 10 December 2020.
Commemoration
In January 2023,
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
announced that a
blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
would be unveiled later that year on a house in
Clapham
Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Ea ...
, 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
The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
)
* ''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
''The Decameron'' (; or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human Comedy (drama), comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy, Comedy'' "''D ...
''
[see Summary of ''Decameron'' tales]
* ''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)
Notes
* Dyson, Stephen L. (2014). ''The LAST AMATEUR The Life of William J. Stillman''. New York: State University of New York.
* Marsh, Jan; Pamela Gerrish Nunn (1998). ''Pre-Raphaelite Women Artists''. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 131–135. .
* Stillman, William James (1901). ''Autobiography of a Journalist''. London: Grant Richards.
References
# Waterman, Amanda B. ''Neo-Pre-Raphaelitism: The Final Generations'', University of Washington, 2016.
#
^ Dimitrios SPARTALI & Christina (Ioannes) Mavrogordato". ''www.christopherlong.co.uk''. Retrieved 23 July 2017
#
^ Vasos Tsibidaros. ''Oi Ellines stin Anglia'' (''The Greeks in England''). Athens: Alkaios, 1974.
#
^ Robertson, W. Graham. ''Time Was''. (1931) pp. 12–13
# Elliot, David B. (2005). ''A Pre-Raphaelite Marriage: The Lives and Works of Marie Spartali Stillman and William James Stillman''. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club
# Dyson, Stephen L. (2014). ''The LAST AMATEUR The Life of William J. Stillman''. New York: State University of New York.
# Casteras, Susan (1995). ''The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy to Symbolism''. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 39.
#
^ Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (23 July 2017). "The Correspondence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti: The Chelsea years, 1863-1872, prelude to crisis : 1863-1867". Boydell & Brewer. Retrieved 23 July 2017 – via Google Books.
#
^ Nichols, K. L. "Women's Art at the World's Columbian Fair & Exposition, Chicago 1893". Retrieved 30 July 2018.
#
^ POETRY IN BEAUTY: THE PRE-RAPHAELITE ART OF MARIE SPARTALI STILLMAN, website
#
^ Collins, Maxine (9 November 2015). "Marie Spartali Stillman: The female artist time forgot". BBC. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
#
^ "Marie Spartali Stillman: The Enchanted Garden of Messer Ansaldo". ArtMagick. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016.
External links
Stillman genealogyArt Renewal Center*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stillman, Marie Spartali
1844 births
1927 deaths
19th-century English painters
20th-century English painters
19th-century English women artists
Burials at Brookwood Cemetery
English artists' models
English people of Greek descent
Female Pre-Raphaelite painters
Painters from London
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists' models
Pre-Raphaelite painters
Women of the Victorian era
English women watercolourists
English watercolourists
20th-century English women painters