Love the expressions on the faces here, the little details, and the story being (only partly) told: "The Return of the Runaway," by Joseph Clark (1834-1926). c.1862. victorianweb.org/painting/cla... It asks for and surely elicits the viewer's engagement. #painting

It's that time of month again! Do take a look at our monthly round-up in What's New -- lots of fascinating new work. For example, who was this under-sung heroine of the Victorian age, and what does she have to do with the later scene? Clue: 4th para. www.victorianweb.org/misc/whatsne...

When the weather's like this, there's nothing for it but..... (John Frederick Lewis, "The Siesta," 1876) victorianweb.org/painting/lew... #painting #heatwave

#Heatwave continues!!! "Angel holding the Sun," by William Morris, at St James's Church, Stavely, Cumbria. Photo: P. Neil Ralley #stainedglass victorianweb.org/art/stainedg...

#heatwave Feels like flaming June but we're not there yet! This is "Clytie Turning Towards the Sun," by Thomas Matthews Rooke, RWS, 1884. No sunflowers around yet, but some kind of transformation is definitely happening! victorianweb.org/painting/roo...

Kelmscott Manor, William Morris's home on the Thames in Oxfordshire. It's been recently restored, and is looking stunning inside and out. A wonderful garden on a hot day, complete with croquet.

Charles Barry, architect of the rebuilt Houses of Parliament after the fire of 1834, was born on 23 May 1795. Read more about the Westminster-born architect's background below.

In case you need an excuse to visit the Cotswolds—here's a wonderful William De Morgan exhibition coming up at Moreton-in-Marsh—all those delightfully quirky animal designs! Catch it while you can (talk on Friday + 26-29th this month)! victorianweb.org/art/design/d...

William de Morgan

Reminder - just 5 days left to submit a paper proposal for "Belonging to the Victorians? Community, Collections, and Care", a 1-day conference on 4 September 2026 to be held at Wilton's Music Hall. Details in attached image. 🌟

All Saints, Margaret St #London William Butterfield’s masterpiece of Gothic Revival. Nave looking into the chancel

#onthisday, 19 May 1898, William Ewart Gladstone, three times Prime Minister of the UK, died. In an 1876 Punch cartoon, John Tenniel depicts Gladstone as a #TurkishBaths attendant waiting upon his political rival, Benjamin Disraeli. Context at www.victorianturkishbath.org/_3TOPICS/Ato... 🗃️ #C19th

A Punch gag about taking the clichéd language of three-volume novels too literally. I especially like the Sleepy Hollow attitude of 'tossing her head in the air'.

Died #OnThisDay 1898 William Ewart Gladstone, four times Liberal prime minister. First entered Parliament 1832 as Tory MP for Newark. Later sat for Oxford Univ., S Lancs, Greenwich & Midlothian. Fond of chopping down trees, as this post explains: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2018/08/08/i...

A #Monday washday special! John Singer Sargent's "La Biancheria" of 1910. victorianweb.org/painting/sar... These wonderful "whites" are anything but white, composed of sun, shade, an inspired eye and vigorous brushstrokes

May Morris

#onthisday, 17 May 1949, the British government recognised the Republic of Ireland, home of the Irish-Roman, or Victorian #TurkishBaths. From Cork they spread round the island, crossing to England, on to Scotland & Wales, travelling to parts of the Empire, Europe & the USA. Very few remain. 🗃️ #C19th

In a new VPFA Blog Post, Helena Esser interviews Roy Reads Anything (@edgerat.bsky.social) about his Neglected Victorian Bestsellers project. There's Marryat, Lytton, Corelli, Ouida, and more! Read the post here: victorianpopularfiction.org/neglected-vi... Roy's YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist...

Shocking news that the University of Hertfordshire is closing Humanities. Sign the petition here if you care about the place of ethics, creativity and critical reflection in #HigherEducation. c.org/5WwymVxR8G

Fantastic to see Charles Darwin's hands in a copy of Claud Warren's The Life-size Outlines of the Hands of Twenty -four Celebrated Persons (1882) on @debscoltham.bsky.social's stall at Firsts Rare Book Fair at the Saatchi Gallery yesterday! @abararebooks.bsky.social

I'm so excited about the forthcoming performances of plays by #MayMorris with fabulous actors - the performances at Kelmscott Manor have already sold out but there will be another one at Wightwick Manor so look out for tickets! Beautiful image by Tara Obaidy #preraphaelitewomen #preraphaelites

CFP: Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States 2026 Virtual Roundtable Series (Abstract Deadline: 6/15/26) navsa.org/News/13632543

“It ate the food it ne'er had eat, And round and round it flew. The ice did split with a thunder-fit; The helmsman steered us through!” (Samuel Coleridge) 🎨 Gustave Doré #bookwormsat

...the darkening air Thrills with a sense of the triumphing night — Night with her train of stars And her great gift of sleep. [W.E. Henley] And here's a painting inspired by these lines: E R Hughes's "Night with Her Train of Stars" www.victorianweb.org/painting/hug...

Original botanical painting of foxglove and fern from an album of watercolour studies of "Flowers from Nature" attributed to Anne Elizabeth Nasmyth nèe Hartop (1817-1893). These are dated 1866-1868. National Library of Scotland. #hernaturalhistory #botanicalart

‘Is it possible?’ said the gentleman-in-waiting. 'How common it looks!' Illustration by the great Edmund Dulac for Hans Christian Andersen's The Nightingale, 1911. A timeless tale which couldn't be more relevant once again with the mania for generative AI.

These rather beautiful floor tiles are in the vestibule of Saint Alphonsus Church on London Road in the East End of Glasgow. Designed by Peter Paul Pugin, it was built in 1905. #glasgow #architecture #tiles #tiling #church

Since it's May... celebrating a favourite Victorian cartoonist, Phil May: here he is, at his easel, with another of his drawings, this one of Gladstone "in the house", looking distinctly unimpressed by the proceedings! victorianweb.org/art/illustra... #cartoons

Mansfield Traquair Centre. Former Catholic Apostolic Church designed by Robert Rowand Anderson (1895). Stunning mural decorations painted by Phoebe Anna Traquair in the 1890s. Open one Sunday a month and during August. #Edinburgh #art #architecture #church visitmansfieldtraquair.uk/visit2-3/

Planning your staycation for the summer? Actually, there are plenty of lovely spots to choose from. This is William Henry Millais' watercolour, of 1861: "Little Thornwick Bay near Flamborough Head." victorianweb.org/painting/mil... #painting #nature

See, banks and brakes / Now, leavèd how thick! lacèd they are again / With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes / Them; (Gerard Manley Hopkins, Sonnet 51, "Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord") victorianweb.org/authors/hopk...

Gearing up for the big Whistler exhibition coming to Tate Britain this month with a look into one of the most famous images in art @dailyartmagazine.bsky.social www.dailyartmagazine.com/whistlers-mo...

Amazing! I'm celebrating with Collinson's illustration for his poem, 'The Child Jesus', printed in the Pre-Raphaelite magazine, 'The Germ'. Who else would put Jesus on the beach on the Isle of Wight? victorianweb.org/painting/col...

Fellow northern-hemisphere academics, as you anticipate a summer in which you catch up on your book stack, shouldn't you invest in this nifty device from 1892? Patented as The Holloway Restful Reading Stand, it promises nearly hands-free reading.

Born #OnThisDay 1825. the artist James Collinson, once engaged to Christina Rossetti. The title of one of his paintings, "For Sale," has aroused some controversy: was the girl at the bazaar in the market for marraiage? victorianweb.org/painting/col...

Died #OnThisDay 1873 John Stuart Mill. While he was Liberal MP for Westminster, Mill put forward an amendment to add women's suffrage to the 1867 Reform Act - more on that debate here: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/t...

Honoured that _Selling Sexual Knowledge_ is among the wonderful books shortlisted for the SHARP Book History Book Prize this year!

Gustav Klimt was 17 years old in 1879 when he drew (with charcoal and black chalk) this portrait of a young girl. His superb technical ability as a draughtsman is evident even as a teenager in the way he uses shadow to create a three-dimensional picture on paper.

#Wood for Wednesday! Mahogany in James Simpson's Central Methodist Church at St Saviourgate, York. Notice individual holes for communion cups on the altar rails. victorianweb.org/art/architec...

Did you know? In the Victorian era, the young ballerinas of Paris were often caught between art and survival. At the Paris Opéra Ballet, many dancers were not elegant ladies of leisure, but poor girls sent there by families who could scarcely afford to feed them. #Victorian #ballet #history

Just published! What an honor to be included alongside so many superb critics in this volume, which was so expertly conceived & edited by @denisoff.bsky.social. One funny thing abt collections is that sometimes you don’t get to read the other essays til it’s out—I can’t wait to learn from these. 🌿

Do check out this great addition to our existing material on Penny Dreadfuls: "Much 'Treasure' at a Small Price: New Studies of Victorian Penny Fiction," by Rebecca Nesvet—and see what this genre has to say about the Victorians (and us!) www.victorianweb.org/periodicals/...

#Rain today after a pleasant break from it! Here, Hugh Thomson illustrates an early episode in Jane #Austen's "Emma," which leads to Mr Weston's marrying Miss Taylor and gives Emma ideas about match-making! victorianweb.org/art/illustra...

Did you know? In the Victorian era, thousands of Americans believed mysterious airships were flying over their towns...years before powered flight even existed. Between 1896 and 1897, a wave of sightings swept across the United States. #Victorian #UFO #history

Nothing like a Mary Anning letter at the @theul.bsky.social @theulspeccoll.bsky.social to close off a sunny #FossilFriday.

Do read our "What's New" for April! We're celebrating a new link with the Pugin Society, and have some wonderful book reviews, an exhibition review, accounts of Victorian buildings and statues as seaside resorts developed, some lovely new illustrations, etc. etc. www.victorianweb.org/misc/whatsne...

"The Wreck of the Anglo Saxon, April 1863," by the Danish painter Anton Melbye (1818-1875), and John William Bottomley (1816-1900)—much of the drama carried by Bottomley's panicked #horses #painting victorianweb.org/painting/bot...

At 130,000 words, I've nearly finished the first draft of my biography of Australian feminist Louisa Lawson. Still have to write an epilogue & edit those words to fewer than 100,000. But today I wrote about her death in 1920 & it feels like a milestone. #biography #BookSky

New online!! Take a look at Sofie Flowers' review of Sarah Bull's "Selling Sexual Knowledge: Medical Publishing and Obscenity in Victorian Britain" — and see how a publishing industry "grew up at the crossroads of medicine, erotica, and pornography..." victorianweb.org/science/bull...