#i kind of hate the PRB gaze even more than just the general-issue male gaze | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

elskanellis · 2 years ago

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In the early days of our relationship I sent my now-spouse a postcard of this painting. I have no idea why but it has stayed and resonated with us even though we have never seen it in person and even though neither of us is super big on the Pre-Raphaelites in general.

(I don't think she even knows about the Keats poem or the story in the Decameron or anything.)

Now we are old and grey and full of sleep and still any time one of us sees the other handling basil (harvesting from the pot in our window garden; chiffonading for little a garnish; plucking off the nascent flowers to keep it from bolting) we'll say "OH HI THERE ISABELLA!"

William Holman Hunt, Isabella and the Pot of Basil, oil on canvas, 1867, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1867 William Holman Hunt

#oh hi there isabella #the story is that isabella falls in love with someone her family doesn't like #and so they kill him #but his ghost comes to her and says “your family killed me”#and she digs him up and keeps his skull in a pot that she grows basil in #which is why she looks so dreamy about the basil #you did notice the little skull detail on the pot itself right #i love how the pot and the watering can and the hanging light all quote each other #i kind of hate the PRB gaze even more than just the general-issue male gaze #pre-raphaelite brotherhood #william holman hunt #isabella and the pot of basil #19th century british art #oil paintings #his name is lorenzo by the way #but wouldn't it be funny if his name were basil

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