Tennyson, Browning, Matthew Arnold, and James Russell Lowell. Studies for paintings Study for Vivien depicts Sandys's lover, Keomi Gray, as Vivien of Tennyson's poem Idylls of the King. In the poem Vivien is the femme fatale in the story of King Arthur who used her looks to seduce Merlin to learn his secrets. Sandys had previously used tales from King Arthur as inspiration for his work, such as King Pelles' Daughter. He was drawn to stories of women who "seduce, entrap and destroy men, such as Helen of Troy, Morgan Le Fay and Medea." Sandys portrays Vivien as a beautiful, self-assured woman. The apple placed in front of her may refer to the story of Adam and Eve. Study for Autumn, made in 1860, is one of the many studies Sandys made before painting Autumn and provides evidence of Sandys's skill as a draughtsman. He captures minute details, such as the soldier's uniform and the plants and flowers. The study is much like the finished painting, except that the ginger jar is in the foreground. Paintings Early in the 1860s he began to exhibit the paintings which set the seal upon his fame. The best known of these are Vivien (1863), Morgan le Fay (1864), Cassandra and Medea (1868). Sandys never became a popular painter. He painted little, and the dominant influence upon his art was the influence exercised by lofty conceptions of tragic power. There was in it a sombre intensity and an almost stern beauty which lifted it far above the ideals of the crowd. The Scandinavian Sagas and Le Morte d'Arthur gave him subjects after his own heart, and The Valkyrie and Morgan le Fay represent some of his best work. See also Emma Sandys – painter, his sister List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings – including the work of Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys. References Further reading External links Works by Frederick Sandys in the Norfolk Museums Collections Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource Large online collection of works by Frederick Sandys Frederick Sandys at Artcylopaedia. Frederick Sandys & the Pre-Raphaelites at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery. 1829 births 1904 deaths 19th-century British painters British male painters 20th-century British painters English illustrators Pre-Raphaelite painters People educated at Norwich School Alumni of Norwich University of the Arts Artists from Norwich Burials at Brompton Cemetery Pre-Raphaelite illustrators 19th-century British male artists 20th-century British male artists