Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering 1855-1919

On 29th March 1853 [her father] Percival Andrée Pickering [aged 43] and [her mother] Anna Spencer-Stanhope [aged 28] were married at All Saints Church, Cawthorne [Map].

On 30th August 1855 Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering was born to Percival Andrée Pickering [aged 45] and Anna Spencer-Stanhope [aged 31]. She was baptised at All Saints Church, Cawthorne [Map]. She studied Greek, Latin, French, German, and Italian, as well as classical literature and mythology, and was also exposed at a young age to history books and scientific texts.

William de Morgan and his Wife Chapter 5. Later they removed to No. 6 Upper Grosvenor Street; and there their eldest daughter, Mary Evelyn, was born, while there also during the years which followed, two sons and then another daughter — [her sister] the present writer — came into existence.

William de Morgan and his Wife Chapter 5. Mary Evelyn Pickering was the eldest daughter of [her father] Percival Andree Pickering [aged 45], Q.C., Recorder of Pontefract, Attorney General for the County Palatine and sometime Treasurer of the Inner Temple. He married in 1853 [her mother] Anna Maria Spencer-Stanhope [aged 31], who was herself the eldest daughter of [her grandfather] John [aged 68] and [her grandmother] Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope [aged 60], of Cannon Hall, Yorkshire.

William de Morgan and his Wife Chapter 5. 'There was no hope for Evelyn from the first!' her mother used to say laughingly, in view of an episode which occurred at the child's christening. A great-uncle, Mr. Charles Stanhope, officiated on that occasion, a venerable and charming person, who nevertheless was noted for many a malapropism which severely taxed the gravity of his congregation. At the period in the service when the sponsors are called upon to renounce all evil on behalf of the unconscious infant, Mr. Stanhope turned to them, and demanded in a stentorian voice — 'Do you, in the name of this child, promise to remember the devil and all his works?' The perplexed god-parents, faced with such an unexpected dilemma, and feeling it useless to argue the point, glanced helplessly at each other and responded fervently — 'We do!'

1870-1875. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 14]. "The Angel with the Serpent".

William de Morgan and his Wife Chapter 5. 30th August 1872. On her seventeenth birthday she [Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 17]] wrote:—

'At work a little after 7; after breakfast worked again till 12 when we started on an expedition. It rained hard and was very dismal. Got back late... 17 to-day, that is to say 17 years wasted; three parts at least wasted in eating, dawdling and flittering [frittering] time away. I dread getting older, at the beginning of each year I say "I will do something" and at the end I have done nothing. Art is eternal, but life is short, and each minute idly spent will rise, swelled to whole months and years, and hound me in my grave. This year every imaginable obstacle has been put in my way but slowly and tediously I am mastering them all. Now I must do sometliing — I will work till I do something.

'Lost during the year 4 months through illness, 5 through being prevented in every possible way, I in flittering time away, add aboot 2 only in genuine work and that frequently diminished by inapplication! — I will make up for it now, I have not a moment to lose.'

On 7th August 1876 [her father] Percival Andrée Pickering [aged 66] died.

1877. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 21]. "Cadmus and Harmonia". Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book IV, 563-603). Cadmus is changed into a serpent by Mars, his wife Harmonia begs for a similar fate, which is granted.

1878. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 22]. "Night and Sleep". De Morgan Collection. Night floats through the evening sky, his red robes reminiscent of the sunset, and his billowing cloak darkening the sky behind him. He floats arm in arm with Sleep, who gently scatters poppies onto the earth beneath, from the armful of flowers that he has taken from his girdle. (The Victorians used laudanum as a sleeping draught, which was made from tincture of the opium poppy.)

1880. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 24]. Portrait of her uncle "John Roddam Spencer-Stanhope [aged 50]".

1880 - 1888. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 24]. "The Soul's Prison House".

1883. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 27]. "Sleep and Death: The Children of Night". In this painting Evelyn portrays two young boys resting against the Lady of the Night, whose cloak flies behind her in the wind. The children are allegorical representations of Sleep who rests against the lady's knee and Death who stares out of the canvas holding an extinguished torch symbolic of the life force. De Morgan Collection.

1884 - 1885. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 28]. "The Dryad". n Greek mythology dryads are mythological tree nymphs and protectors of the oak tree. Evelyn appears to have depicted a hamadryade, which is a type of nymph who is bonded to the tree itself.

On 5th March 1887 William Frend De Morgan [aged 47] and Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 31] were married.

1893. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 37]. Portrait of the artist's husband William Frend De Morgan [aged 53].

1894. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 38]. "Flora".

1898. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 42]. "Helen of Troy".

1900. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 44]. "The Storm Spirits". De Morgan Collection.

On 23rd December 1901 [her mother] Anna Spencer-Stanhope [aged 77] died.

1903. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 47]. Model Jane Morris [aged 63].

1904. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 48]. Study for St Christina.

1904. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 48]. "Jane Morris [aged 64]". This drawing was a study for "The Hourglass".

1904 - 1905. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 49]. "The Hourglass". Also according to Mrs Stirling, Evelyn De Morgan described this work as "an echo of a movemnet in the Waldstein Sonata of 'Beethoven'." Model Jane Morris [aged 65].

1905. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 49]. "Queen Eleanor & Fair Rosamund". Rosamund was the mistress of Henry II, who built a house for her at Woodstock in Oxfordshire. Legends say that he tried to keep her safe by installing her in a house called Labyrinthus, which was in effect a maze. But Queen Eleanor found her way through by using a thread and poisoned her. The maze can be seen through the door behind the Queen. The stained glass window above Rosamund shows two lovers in an embrace. The Queen carries a small flask if poison, plus the thread that has led her through the maze. She brings with her shadowy evil forms – dragons, apes, and blood red roses lie at her feet. In contrast, winged cherubs and shadowy doves of peace accompany Rosamund and white roses, symbolising purity and innocence, lie at her feet. Rosamond stares at the flask of poison held b the Queen, recognising her doom.

1907. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 51]. "Our Lady of Peace".

1909. Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 53]. Portrait of the artist's husband William Frend De Morgan [aged 69].

On 15th January 1917 [her husband] William Frend De Morgan [aged 77] died. He was buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking.

On 2nd May 1919 Evelyn de Morgan aka Mary Evelyn Pickering [aged 63] died. She was buried in the same grave of her husband William Frend De Morgan at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking. Her headstone, which depicts 'an angel with outstretched arms, pleading with a female figure of Death, with inverted torch, who turns her back', was carved by George Frampton [aged 58].