The Victorian era, when the titular Queen ruled Britain, was a time of sweeping changes.
From positive changes like technology improving to negative changes like, well, everything else
you’ll see in this video, it was a period where artists were doing quite a bit. In this video,
we're going to look at what Victorian artists were up to during this time, whether they were a
painter, a photographer, or a jewelry maker. Now before we get into the meat and potatoes of it,
be sure to like, subscribe, and ring that bell for notifications for the latest Nutty History.
Think everyone who had art commissioned was goody-goody? Well, think again.
Queen Victoria, a staid, polite and conservatve woman had a secret, passionate life she shared
with Prince Albert. Queen Victoria would have private paintings commissioned for her beloved,
and would have artists do them for her, such as Franz Xaver Winterhalter. What did the scandalous
painting show? Her hair coming undone in a cascade, and also some bare shoulders. She
was naughty. This was actually pretty scandalous for the time. Not the shoulders! It also showed
her looking lovesick, something that also was taboo at the time. While this may not be racy
by today’s standards, this was never displayed anywhere, except recently at Buckingham palace.
Well, it was more likely than you’d think. Victorian England was known for scandal,
but this one was one of the most scandalous out there, and it created a lot of buzz,
to the point where it was even debated in drawing rooms and dinner tables.
It involves John Ruskin, Euphemia Gray, and John Everett Millia, who was a painter at the time.
Ruskin married Euphemia, but she didn’t excite him, to the point where on his wedding night,
he ended up being repulsed by her body. This caused Effie to annul the marriage,
but Ruskin married her for love. She did it for money, to help her father who was almost bankrupt.
Effie ended up meeting Millais, an artist who encouraged her to visit him, and got her to model
for his paintings, such as The order for Release where she was shown as a loyal wife handing
over the papers to release her husband who was imprisoned. Effie at this point sought annulment,
because there was impotency and non-consummation. In Victorian society, if you wanted to annul the
marriage, you had to get an examination, to which they found Effie was still a virgin.
Naturally, this meant scandal, since Effie left him for Millais, and it caused people to debate
on whether or not Effie should've stayed or not. It also got to the point where even her love was
dueled between Ruskin and another soldier. While it was an ill-suited marriage, it was an example
of a big problem at the time: two people who were not made for one another, forced to be together.
While they were married for 41 years, the scandal still moved along with them, and Ruskin even
painted her as a wicked nymph in his drawings. Celebrity scandals have nothing on this one.
Some of them really did love the grotesque as well. While most art was considered pure,
prim and proper, some wanted to explore the darker themes, and it contributed to
art nouveau and poster styles. One of them was Aubrey Vincent Beardsley. He did illustrations
that included line-block printing to make black and white prints. He was best known for
decant and erotic art. One of his works, The Peacock Skirt was influenced by Oscar Wilde,
and this illustration was later commissioned in 1894. However, that connection was later
disastrous for beardsley, because Oscard wilde sa arrested for homosexual relations later on.
He had a copy that looked similar to The Yellow book Beardsley created, and soon, a mob came to
Beardsley’s publisher and tried to destroy the place. This ended up kicking Beardsley off the
team as an editor, which pushed him to create The Saroy. Unfortunately, it was short lived
because he passed away in 1896 at just 25 years old. Beardsley was also known for making designs
that would shock others, and was influenced by Japanese mythology, to the point where it
looks like it could’ve been made today. Another one who loved the grotesque? Charles Baudlaire.
Best known for Flowers of Evil, Baudlaire also loved the grotesque, but also in his own ways.
He was known for writing about controversial themes, including sex, lesbianism, death,
depsression, corruption, and even losing inocence. Of course Bauldlaire was far from an innocent man
himself, for he drank every day, would hire prospitties, and accumulated many debts.
His family wanted him to go into law, but much to their dismay, he chose to go into literature.
While his family tried to silence this, Baudlaire got inspired for his poetry in India,
and he soon befriended lifelong artist friends, including Jeanne Duval. His work was considered
so controversial that the courts even punished Baudlaire and his publisher and even the printers
of his books because they thought it offended the morality of the public. Six of his poems
were suppressed during this time. He eventually died due to long-term chronic health issues,
part of which was due to using laudanum, a form of opium. He eventually ran into so many
financial ruts that he left his home, ran off to Belgium, and then eventually paid off his debts.
He’s considered one of the most influential and important poets,
but back in Victorian society he was considered so controversial he needed to be silenced.
Another scandal, how could this be? Well it is Victorian art society after all, you couldn’t
even show shoulders during those times. But this scandal involved an artist named Felicien Rops,
who was a painter, engraver, and an illustrator who studied at the University of Brussels.
He was a whiz at capturing the female form, and was able to create tender, insolent,
and humorful images. He was known however, for the subjects that he made, including death,
holy Scriptures, and even “nudes” that depicted the bourgeois were a popular topic for Rops.
Rops did nudes because they were considered improper by society,
and he did not want to follow societal rules. His paintings were definitely out there,
and he had a passion for skeletons. He is best known for Les Sataniques, a collection
of watercolors and engravings that depicted death, idols, obstruction, and even sacrifice.
While Caroline Norton was considered scandalous, in our world, she would’ve
been considered a femnist. She married George Norton for money in 1827 to help her family,
but it wasn’t a good marriage because of the abuse and beatings that he gave her.
But not just that, he was a member of the Tory and she was more liberal. But
she ended up writing many different verses, and focused on her children. At one point, she ended
up creating a friendship with a man named Lord Melbourne, which didn’t help their rocky marriage.
The problem with her work was she did get money for her publications, but it all belonged to her
husband. At one point he claimed Caroline was cheating on him with Lord Melbourne,
to the point where it caused a nine-day trial, but Melbourne wasn’t guilty. Caroline ended up losing
her children and everything, but it also paved the road for the marriage and divorce act of 1857,
and the Infant Custody Bill of 1839. She eventually married William Stirling Maxwell,
but died three months after that. While not every woman had a voice in this time period,
as an artist, they were able to create ripples in society with their actions. Now while most artists
in the Victorian era usually were hesitant on painting someone's shoulders and putting that on
display, there were popular actresses and actors, and they had their own share of scandals. Cornelie
D’Anka was one who suffered one of these scandals. In 1871, she was the victim of a stalking case,
to the point where a pistol was pointed at her. She was victimized in a brutal attack.
There is nothing on record that indicates why it happened, but it shows that even back in the day,
artists and celebrities were not safe from even the worst of stalkers. And she wasn’t the only one
with a scandal either. Some scandals were due to how unsavory they were for modern society.
Take William Horace Lingard for example. He was a drag performer, who was part of a bigamy case,
which caused a major scandal. Lingard married a professional actor named Amelia Martha Flint,
and they had a child together. But then, Lingard ended up marrying a
19 year old named Alice Dunning, to which Amelia sued him for divorce.
She got custody of the child, and later on, Lingard married Dunning in London.
Were artists always getting themselves into something? You know what not necessarily.
Many art pieces from any era in human history have had political commentary.
However, this sentiment grew in the Victorian era. Anyone who could shake a paintbrush knew they
needed to use their talents to change the world. After all, this period was a time of many changes.
Industrialization, disease, hunger, and other human woes increased or became more observable
at the very least. For example, the rise of the industrial world benefited society but gave birth
to new problems. Workers were being exploited, there was now pollution invading the air, and
civil unrest was brewing. Aren't we glad that the world we're living in has none of that nowadays?
One example is Song of the Shirt, a painting from GF Watts. This painting depicts an overworked
seamstress. How overworked are we talking here? How about working for free days straight! Ever
had a bad night's sleep? That is nothing compared to these poor seamstresses, who worked for literal
days while getting little in return. Another example is art from Luke Fildes, who painted
Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward in 1874. What's a casual ward? Consider it a homeless
shelter for the night. When Fildes painted this, audiences were shocked by how many were suffering.
The painting was not easy on the eyes, but it was a grim reminder of how the elite treated the poor.
As a result, art became a brutally honest depiction of the world's woes at the time.
Besides painting pictures, many artists worked for political campaigns or other causes.
The Victorian era was indeed a time where the pen could be mightier than the sword, and an
artist would be able to make sweeping changes to the world through the power of painting.
Imagine going to a family funeral, and everyone gathering around grandpa’s casket to take a
selfie with him. Now many would find this act to be in poor taste, and that is an understatement!
Some may try to run you out of town for disrespecting the deceased like that! But in the
Victorian era, where photography was becoming more affordable for families, this was the norm. So if
you've ever looked at old portraits of families from around this time, there may have been one
member, or even more, who was not alive when the photographer snapped the photo. This act is known
as memento mori photography. Memento mori means "Remember, you will die," and these photos served
as a way to honor the deceased while reminding the living that their own clock was tick tick-ticking.
It wasn't uncommon to see photos of twin babies where one baby didn't make it,
but they were seated next to their sibling. Or, if Mom passed away, the child may take a photo next
to their deceased mother. Oh yeah, and the living may have had to sit by their relatives for a good
while because early cameras were not the fastest. One reason for memento mori photography, and the
other fascinations with death you'll see later, is because the Victorian era was filled with it.
When you were 21, you were practically middle-aged. Measles, scarlet fever, and other
diseases we have conquered ravaged infants and people over 40. As these diseases began to meet
their end through medical advancements, memento mori photography got less popular. Nowadays,
because cameras are everywhere, the act of seeing your deceased relative is much more private.
As you probably know, hair lasts much longer than other parts of your body and is used often
as a way to honor the deceased in the middle of widespread death in this era. Artists would make
memento mori art out of a deceased loved one’s hair. For example, in this piece of art you
can see the hair from the deceased making up the trees. One could even think of this as a metaphor
for reincarnation. Another piece of artwork made from hair was jewelry. The Queen herself had
artwork made from her husband, Prince Albert's, hair. She would wear jewelry using his hair,
and this affected the public. We still don't know if she had Prince Albert's hair in a can or not.
However, not all art pieces made of hair were about the deceased. For example, as an artist,
you may commission a frame that a mother will use to frame her child's first haircut.
This practice is still done to this day in some form or another. Another way people created art
from hair was through friendship bracelets. Some poets even framed their hair next to their poems
to immortalize themselves in their work—hair today, gone tomorrow. And there you have
it. Some interesting, odd, or downright morbid things that artists were up to during this time.
Know more nutty Victorian facts? Tell us below in the comments. And be sure to like, subscribe,
and ring that bell for notifications. Thanks for watching Nutty History.