Victorian Witchcraft, Pre-Raphaelite Art Tile Panels

The Set

Evelyn De Morgan, Love Potion

In The Love Potion, a witch brews a love potion, with a black cat at her feet. It has a medieval setting, so popular with Morris and the later Pre-Raphaelites. Lovers promenade, hand in hand, outside her window. Evelyn DeMorgan's mother-in-law, Sophia, was a clairvoyant medium and both Evelyn and William had a strong interest in spiritualism, magic, and the occult.

John William Waterhouse, Circe Summoning Ulysses Over the Waters

The sorceress Circe summons Ulysses to drink a cup containing the potion that will bring him under her spell. Ulysses's reflection can be seen in the mirror.

Charles Megnin, Sappho

Sappho, the most dangerous woman ever to have existed! There's evidence: Born between 630 and 612 BC, she died around 570 BC. Six hundred years after her death, ten of her books were republished. All of her poetry that could be found was burned 900 years later by order of St. Gregory, and again in 1073 by papal decree. Charles Megnin is not Pre-Raphaelite. He is French academic but his Sappho is more powerful than all others.

John William Waterhouse, The Crystal Ball

This is the original version of The Crystal Ball wherein a young woman in a red dress gazes into the ball, as if weaving a spell with the aid of a book and a skull. As paintings do, it changed hands several times and eventually hung in the dining room at Glenborrodale Castle, Highland. When the castle changed hands in 1952, dining with the skull did not suit the new owner who had it covered by curtains. In 1994 it was put up for auction at Christie's. Martin Beisly, head of the Victorian picture department at Christie's, and his team researched its background and came upon photographs of the original. An X-ray of the painting showed the skull behind the curtains. The original surface was still protected with a layer of varnish allowing the curtains to be removed and the painting restored.