Studio: international art (19.1900)

The Art of Evelyn De Morgan

in the midst of scattered marguerites, forget-me-
nots, and roses. This picture was inspired by the
following lines from the Fourth Book of the
" Paradise Lost," where Gabriel says :—

" Ithuriel, and Zephon, with winged speed

Search through this garden, leave unsearched no nook,

But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,

Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.

This evening from the sun's decline arrived

Who tells of some infernal Spirit seen

Hitherward bent (who could have thought ?), escaped

The bars of Hell, on errand bad, no doubt;

Such, where ye find, seize fast, and hither bring."'

So saying, on he led his radiant files,

Dazzling the moon ; these to the bower direct

In search of whom they sought. Him there they found,

Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,

Assaying, by his devilish art, to reach

The organs of her fancy ....

Ithuriel, as represented by Mrs. De Morgan, has
just found Eve and the tempter. He is accom-
panied by cherubs, whose threefold azure wings
are as a blue cloud surrounding him. He wears a
soft raiment, bright with mother-of-pearl tones.
The draperies round the waist and body are rose-

coloured, and so are the sleeves. The three pairs
of wings, very well poised and admirably handled,
are crimson-hued, with touches of grey-green here
and there. Ithuriel has light hair, is pale-faced,
and the well-drawn hands are as delicate as they
could be. It may be thought that this Ithuriel
is too mild—too much like Shakespeare's
Oberon—to be in keeping with the terrific
tragedy depicted in the first four books of the
" Paradise Lost." Eve, too, lovely as she is, seems
to bear no likelihood of resemblance to Milton's
superb mother of mankind. But the picture has a
sweet serene grace which should make us glad to
accept from Mrs. De Morgan another Eve and
another Ithuriel, true children of her own fancy.

Nor is this all. An artist, when inspired by a
great poem, ought always thus to give his or her
own interpretation of the spirit of the text, how-
ever opposed it may be to the one commonly
recognised to be right. This is a wise and neces-
sary thing to do, not only because artists should
avoid all moods for which they have no gift, but
also because painting and poetry are so different, in
many ways, that it is well-nigh impossible to make

"KARTHBOUND "

228

FROM A PAINTING BY EVELYN DE MORGAN