Oh, it happened again! Sorry, I am really busy with final projects and exams and sewing and moving to the UK I can't even think about writing posts. I've been recently working on an essay on Parade's End (the series, because it's for an English Film subject) and well, I'm sure other people have noticed this before... yet I'd like to publish some of the images I came across while researching. *possible spoilers*
There's Vincent Macmaster (Vinny) on the left, a character who's very present in the first book/first episodes, that's because he is Christopher Tietjen's (the protagonist) best friend and he looks a lot like Gabriel! Maybe I should've chosen a portrait with a more aged Gabriel to compare, but they have similar postures here. Although they're (Chrissy and Vinny) both government statisticians, Vincent is a Pre-Raphaelite fan boy! He's actually writing a biography on Rossetti, that I would've loved to screencap but the quality was so bad we couldn't even read the title so... meh. He's passionate about literature and writes critiques, and when he meets reverend Duchemin, who claims to have met Rossetti himself...guess what happens!
Mrs Duchemin, whose marriage with the revered is a bit estranged (wink), has a very obvious Jane Morris-y Pre-Raphaelite beauty (wink wink), starts an affair with Vincent/Rossetti (triple wink!). I had to screencap this, sorry. The thing is, Christopher is ultra gallant and chaste, so this extramarital relationship highlights the differences between the two friends. Sadly, reverend Duchemin will die and Jane and Rossetti will marry here, welp, at least they've changed that. But guess what? THEY CALL EACH OTHER GUGGUMS!
Oh, I love Sylvia. She's a bad person, but not a bad character. In fact, she's a wonderful character, so complex and yet so primitive. She's a redhead femme fatale, a Fiammetta, and an Astarte Syriaca too. She's Christopher's scandalous wife who will do anything to make him react passionately. I love how she's glorified with that Arts and Crafts-y-haloed-plate.
The wallpaper, William Morris' Fruit (1862) and the engraving at the right top seems something from the Kelmscott Chaucer (1896), I am sorry I couldn't identify the exact page. The one below is Henry Holiday's Dante and Beatrice (1884). I find it so great that they took into account that Ford Madox Ford (the novelist) was Ford Madox Brown's grandson and included all these details. I'm sure there are more but for now I'm leaving you with these. Also, it's a great series, you should all go watch it, an excellent literary adaptation written by Sir Tom Stoppard, ladies and gentlemen!
