Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton (Part of the De Morgan Foundation Collection)
Location History:
The painting was originally commissioned for the private collection of William Imrie of Liverpool before eventually being acquired by the De Morgan Foundation.
If you know the story of Helen of Troy, you probably expect to see a bunch of epic battles and chaos. But in this 1898 painting, Evelyn De Morgan completely tosses out the traditional, male-focused war narrative. There isn't a weapon or a drop of blood in sight.
Instead, De Morgan focuses entirely on making Helen look incredibly sympathetic and ethereal. She’s standing super tall and serene—modeled by Jane Hales—and if the posture feels a bit familiar, it’s because it’s heavily inspired by Botticelli’s Renaissance goddesses, especially Venus. The piece was actually commissioned by William Imrie, a wealthy shipping magnate who regularly bought De Morgan's work.
The details here are all about innocence and love rather than conflict. Helen is wrapped in flowing pink robes that make her look really young, and she’s surrounded by white roses and doves of peace. She’s actually gazing into a mirror that has the image of Aphrodite on it, reflecting her own legendary beauty.
The background is packed with cool subtle touches, too. You can catch a waning moon up in the sky, and if you look closely at the distant coastline, you can barely make out the city of Troy. Those black stone sphinxes framing the edges are a great addition to give the whole scene a distinct Eastern vibe.
Basically, De Morgan flips the script on how people viewed Helen back then. She doesn't paint her as some calculating mastermind who purposely started a war. She shows her as an innocent young woman who just got caught up in a massive tragedy totally out of her control.
Helen stands on a balustrade in a flowing pink gown, lifting a strand of her gold hair while she looks into a hand mirror. The mirror is the painting's key device. Its back bears the image of Venus, so the picture sets the vanity of Helen's gaze against the goddess whose gift caused the war. Behind her, doves and white and red roses speak of love, and the distant walls of Troy on the cliff remind the viewer of the destruction that beauty brings. The soft pink of her dress makes her look youthful and almost innocent, which the De Morgan Foundation reads as a way of separating her from the bloodshed. I find that tension between serene self-admiration and the ruin behind her the most striking thing about the painting.
