This day devoted to iconoclasts, some quieter than others but all fascinating. I began with the one I knew the least about, Evelyn Pickering de Morgan who was on display at the Guild Hall Art Gallery. I know I ought to have made my way to the Guild Hall at some point (if only for Gog and Magog) but somehow I had not. In my defence, there are always too many things to see in London. You have to reconcile yourself to wearing blinders or you’d never get to anything.

It is of course impressive in the way that all monuments to the powerful are; towering over you to remind you how small you are, you little bug. But great use of colour inside and a lovely splash opening to lure the unsuspecting into these glories. Free admission, but I bought a guidebook and some cards to support the effort.

She really straddled that fuzzy line between the Pre-Raphaelites and the Moderns though I think philosophically she had more leanings toward the former. I was particularly struck by her imagining of Eleanor poisoning poor Rosamund (another labyrinth echo). Bats, dragons, snakes!

I found her portrait of Jane Morris very touching. I loved the colours in the Evening Star so much I made it my FB cover. Her colours seem so soft and yet she has a fiery belief in a better world that fuels much of her imagination.

You will not be surprised to find her an ardent supporter of the suffragettes. Her women always seem like they have survived so much. Her elemental forces, while picturesque, convey a sense of undeniable power.

De Morgan supported her husband when they first married; hustling to sell her paintings while he worked as a ceramicist for a long time, then later with his writing. When at last his novels took off, he did not abandon her for a younger woman as so many do, but they stuck together and enjoyed some happy years without the financial strains.

More pictures to come from the other galleries and the Roman amphitheatre!