When the Dutch artist Margje Bijl (1975) was given this image of Jane Morris (1839-1914), at first glance she thought she was looking at herself. Intrigued by this encounter she has been working on her project ‘Reflections on Jane Morris’ since 2009.

Portrait of Jane Morris by John Robert Parsons, 1865
commissioned and posed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
wet plate collodion photograph, Birmingham Museum

Margje’s multidisciplinary approach to the Pre-Raphaelite ‘muse’ Jane Morris reflects her own background, of a wide range of interests and studies from fine art and photography to creative writing and psychology.

With the ‘Jane Morris Museum’ Margje is exploring the concept of visualising a double biography by carefully selecting the images, objects and stories that either define her connection with Jane Morris or reveal a contrasting portrait of her authentic self.

‘Less Than Her Shadow on the Grass’
in display case at Pulchri, 2022