Today for Me 

Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale created this watercolor painting, Today for Me, in Britain, and its dreamlike imagery echoes the Victorian fascination with the medieval past. Here, a queenly figure in red robes and elaborate headwear gazes at a young girl offering a flower. A bridge and another figure hint at a narrative beyond the immediate scene. Fortescue-Brickdale was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, which idealized the art, architecture, and social structures of the medieval period as an alternative to the perceived ugliness and social problems of industrializing Britain. The artist captures the medievalizing spirit of the Pre-Raphaelites, but we also see a very modern sensibility, which has as much to do with a growing interest in children’s literature and fairy tales. To truly appreciate this work, we must delve into the artistic and social context in which it was made. Catalogues of exhibitions, biographies of the artists, and social histories of the period can reveal the complex dialogue between past and present that shaped such images.