My brain has just exploded… I’ve been watching a youtube Q&A about the short film, The Three Graces (released June 2026) https://youtu.be/_fyHZKAs9Yk?si=tu775AL-utCic2sU and it feels like my synapses have lit up like a Christmas tree! I want to pay tribute to screenwriter, actress and general awesome human being, Andreane Rellou, and all the crew involved in creating this short film, directed by Nicole Sarah Fry - which I hope to see when it’s on general release. I had no idea that the historical figures, Marie Spartali Stillman, Maria Zambaco and Aglaia Coronio were Greek, and known as The Three Graces. But not only were they Greek, they were Anatolian Greeks - the ethnic Greek population that lived in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) for nearly 3000 years. This is my heritage too, on my father’s side. My father’s family were from a coastal town north of Smyrna (Izmir), called Kydonia (Ayvalik).
So Marie, Maria and Aglaia were associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement and Victorian high society during the 1860s-80s. Marie Spartali Stillman had a long and successful career as a painter, Maria Zambaco was a talented sculptor and model for Edward Burne-Jones, and Aglaia Coronio was an embroiderer, art collector and patron of the arts. Their lives are a fascinating reminder of Victorian sensibilities and the discrimination of talented women, who became mere footnotes in the History of Art, as muses and exotic curiosities.
Whilst I was paying homage in my recent painting to Botticelli's Primavera - an important artwork for William Morris and an inspiration for his brotherhood - I was oblivious of the significance of the origins of the three figures in Botticelli’s painting as the three Charities of Ancient Greek mythology. It would appear I have stumbled into the depths of a story with so many personal resonances, of which I was completely unaware at the beginning of the process. I may have begun this piece from a purely intellectual conceptual perspective, but now it feels personal. That’s a kind of kismet, isn’t it?
My Three Graces painting will be on display in my William Morris Collective exhibition called Radical Beauty, coming soon this September. Although my Three Graces are based on the Botticelli painting, knowing the three Greek cousins were named after the three Charities is of real significance to me, adding to the narrative and process of the making of the piece.
As you may have gathered by now, I am currently obsessed with William Morris. And he was closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He may not have been an original 1848 founder, but he had deep personal and professional bonds with key members such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, who together expanded their medieval ideals into the Arts and Crafts movement.
There is so much to learn around the subject of William Morris. I feel I will need a lifetime to explore this fascinating man, the era that he defined and the influences that still resonate and feel relevant to this day.