In Pre-Raphaelite spirit I decided to paint my own version of a character from Arthurian romance, settling on Morgana le Fay.
She is most regularly portrayed as a cunning villainess- though not always. Some stories describing her as a great healer and one of the three ladies who accompany Arthur to Avalon.
Her depictions are varied and her character is hard to pin down to a single archetype, which made her an interesting subject. I wanted to give her face an air of mystery- her eyes glimmering with secrets. Is she making a healing potion or poison? I’ll leave that to the viewer.
The frame is also inspired by Rossetti’s designs which regularly included a wide inner wood cuff, the gold gilt onto the bare wood allowing the natural grain to show through, decorated with hand made roundels for ornamentation.