Marie Spartali Stillman Biography

Marie Stillman, née Spartali (1844-1927), was a British painter of Greek descent. A member of the second generation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, she is regarded as the greatest female artist of that movement.

Of the Pre-Raphaelites, she had one of the longest-running careers, spanning sixty years and producing over one hundred and fifty works, including Love's Messenger and numerous romantic scenes from the Divine Comedy. Though her work with the Brotherhood began as a favourite model, she soon trained and became a respected painter, earning praise from Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others.

Marie Spartali was the eldest child of Michael Spartali, a wealthy merchant, and Euphrosyne Varsini. The family split time between their home at Clapham Common in London and their country home on the Isle of Wight. In the city, Spartali's father was fond of lavish garden parties where he invited up and coming writers and artists. It was at one such event where Marie would first be introduced to the art world.

In 1870, Spartali met American journalist and painter William J. Stillman. The couple had previously posed for Rossetti in his famous Dante pictures, though it is not certain if that is how they first met. Interestingly, although her husband was an artist himself, Marie never sat for him as a model. The pair married in 1871 against her father's wishes, causing a rift that would never fully heal.

As her husband was a foreign correspondent for The Times, the couple divided their time between London and Florence (1878-83), and later Rome (1889-96).

The couple had three children of their own who were raised alongside William's other three children from a previous marriage. Marie Stillman died in March 1927 in Ashburn Place in South Kensington, four days shy of her 83rd birthday, and was cremated at Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking, Surrey. She is interred there with her husband.