[dohtml]<div style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: Comic Sans MS"><p>Did you know? Born in 1829, the Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir John Everett Millais died on this day in 1896. His paintings include <i>Ophelia</i> – for which the model Elizabeth Siddal posed in a bathtub in a portrayal of the drowning of the character in William Shakespeare’s play <i>Hamlet</i>. This painting was featured in a programme on the Pre-Raphaelites on BBC Four on Tuesday night. :good:</p>
<p>I have just read about <font face="Arial" size="2">medievalism</font> in the spread “Romanticism” under the section <font face="Arial"><b>The Visual Arts</b></font> of <a target="_blank" href="http://z8.invisionfree.com/DYK/index.php?showtopic=388&view=findpost&p=3617172"><i>The Guinness Encylopedia</i></a>. B)</p></div>[/dohtml]

Did you know? Miss Siddal's bathtub was heated with candles; while Millais was painting, the candles started to burn out. Afraid to distract the painter, however, the poor girl simply endured the cold water – but that was the last time Lizzie Siddal ever posed for Millais. :P

[dohtml]<font face="Trebuchet MS" size="3" color="black"><p>Did you know? William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti are two other celebrated members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. B)</p></font>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<div style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: Comic Sans MS"><p>Did you know? The Nazarenes were a group similar to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; they were German artists working in Rome in the early 19^<u>th</u> century who drew their inspiration from late-medieval German art. I have just read about <font face="Arial" size="2">the impact of Italy and the Reformation</font> in the spread “Early Netherlandish and German art” under the section <font face="Arial"><b>The Visual Arts</b></font> of <a target="_blank" href="http://z8.invisionfree.com/DYK/index.php?showtopic=388&view=findpost&p=3617172"><i>The Guinness Encylopedia</i></a>. Well known medieval German artists include Albrecht Dürer, Albrecht Altdorfer, Lucas Cranach (the Elder) and Hans Holbein the Younger – the last of whom became court painter to Henry VIII of England. :)</p></div>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<font face="Trebuchet MS" size="3" color="black"><p>Did you know? Holbein’s painting <i>The Ambassadors</i> contains a skull that is so distorted that it only looks its correct shape at a certain very oblique angle. I have seen this painting at the National Gallery, London. :cheer:</p></font>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]A moment ago, I read about Millais, Sir John Everett (1829–96) in the F<small>AMOUS </small>P<small>EOPLE</small> section of the Bloomsbury Concise Encyclopedia. Did you know? He was known for his posed, studied tableaux in clashing colours.[/dohtml]