Evelyn de Morgan took up a scholarship from the Slade School of Art in 1874 and later exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery to great acclaim. Throughout her career she made many preparatory sketches on paper for the large mythological paintings for which she is best known. Some of these are shown in this section.

However, in 1889 she exhibited something different at the Fine Art Society. Of special interest, these were her "Gold Drawings," artworks in their own right, mainly depicting the angels and biblical figures which were of great importance to her strongly held spiritual beliefs. Her methods here were unique: possibly influenced by Burne-Jones who used gold paint in some of his pictures, she bought pellets of dry pigment from the well-known art supplier, Roberson, which she then ground down to make paint and crayons of her own invention. These were applied to a particular kind of more darkly tinted woven paper, the firm lines of swirling drapery contrasting with softly smudged effects for flesh tones. — Shirley Nicholson

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Finished Drawings

Studies for Identified Works

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Drapery Studies


Last modified 13 June 2022