Note 55 to Chapter 6 of the author's George Eliot and the Visual Arts, which Yale University Press published in a 1979. It has been included in the Victorian web with the kind permission of the author, who of course retains copyright.
Naumann's long hair marks him a Nazarene. The Brothers of St. Luke came to be called "Nazarenes" by witty detractors alluding to the Old Testament priests (Nazarites) who refrained from cutting their hair as a sign of their dedication to God; see Andrews, The Nazarenes, p. 29. George Eliot noted Overbeck's "long grey hair" at their meeting in 1860 (Cross, II, 1 S8).
Last modified 20 September 2000