2009 Pre-Raphaelite Project
During the summer of 2008, Maud Taber-Thomas was awarded a research fellowship from Bowdoin College to study the philosophy and painting techniques of the Pre-Raphaelites. The Pre-Raphaelite painters draw their subjects from literature, mythology, and history. They rebelled against the accepted techniques of the time by developing an innovative style of painting: glazing transparent layers of pure color over a white background to create brilliant, glowing colors. For this project, in the spirit of the Pre-Raphaelites, Maud created five portraits depicting characters from literature—Coleridge’s poetry, Oscar Wilde’s novel, and the Bible—using the painting techniques of the Pre-Raphaelites. This project opened the door to her lifelong passion for painting literary portraits.
Click each image for more details about the work.
Oil on Panel, 8 x 10″, 2009 A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision once I saw: It was an Abyssinian maid, And on her dulcimer she played, Singing of Mount Abora. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan
Oil on Canvas, 30 x 40″, 2008 “Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.” –"The Picture of Dorian Gray," Oscar Wilde
Oil on Panel, 8 x 10″, 2008
Oil on Panel, 11 x 14″, 2008 Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. -Matthew 6:28-29
Oil on Panel, 8 x 10″, 2008