Philip Burne-Jones, Earth-rise from the Moon

Date: 1891
Technique: Unknown

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Philip Burne-Jones, The Gallows Ghost

Illustration for The Amber Witch:The Most Interesting Trial for Witchcraft Yet Known by Johannes Wilhelm Meinhold.

The Amber Witch is a Gothic novel and literary hoax written in 1839 by Johannes Wilhelm Meinhold (1797–1851) and originally published in German as Maria Schweidler: Die Bernsteinhexe. In 1844 it was published in Britain as The Amber Witch in two English translations, one by E. A. Friedlander and another and more enduring one by Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon. Lady Duff Gordon's translation was very popular with the Victorians and went through numerous editions, including a luxurious one in 1895 illustrated by Philip Burne-Jones. Meinhold's story was a favourite of Oscar Wilde when he was a boy, and in 1861 it was also made into an opera, The Amber Witch, composed by William Vincent Wallace. Wallace's opera has faded into obscurity, but the novel on which it was based has continued to be re-published, both on its own and in anthologies, into the 21st century.

Meinhold claimed to have discovered the manuscript of a 17th century minister, Abraham Schweidler (purportedly a pastor of Coserow and known for his fire and brimstone sermons) amongst the rubbish in the choir in the old Coserow Church. The manuscript contained the story of the pastor's daughter Mary, the "Amber Witch". Described as "the most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known", church leaders had apparently urged Meinhold publish the story for its didactic value. When it first appeared almost all of the German critics believed it to have been an authentic historical document.

The work then attracted critical notice, not only for the dramatic nature of the narrative, but also for the arguments as to which parts of it were original and which ones were Meinhold's own reconstructions written in imitation of the original 17th-century style – "a literary tempest in a teapot". The author's intention had been to set a deliberate "trap for the disciples of David Strauss and his school who pronounced the scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be a collection of legends from historical research assisted by internal evidence". In a direct challenge to these "modern documentary critics" Meinhold wrote in the preface to the novel:

"I have therefore attempted, not indeed to supply what is missing at the beginning and end, but to restore those leaves which have been torn out of the middle, imitating, as accurately as I was able, the language and manner of the old biographer, in order that the difference between the original narrative and my own interpolations might not be too evident. This I have done with much trouble, and after many ineffectual attempts; but I refrain from pointing out the particular passages which I have supplied, so as not to disturb the historical interest of the greater part of my readers. For modern criticism, which has now attained to a degree of acuteness never before equalled, such a confession would be entirely superfluous, as critics will easily distinguish the passages where Pastor Schweidler speaks from those written by Pastor Meinhold."

It is only in a later edition that the author admitted that the chronicle was entirely imaginary and provided the proof. Meinhold's admission that the story was a complete fabrication was at first rejected, but it soon became obvious that The Amber Witch was a hoax. As The Times wrote in the late 1840s:

"Meinhold did not spare them [Strauss and his disciples] when they fell into his snare and made merry with the historical knowledge and critical acumen that could not detect the contemporary romancer under the mask of two centuries ago, while they decide so positively as to the authorities of the most ancient writings in the world.

The translation by Lady Duff-Gordon was so well done that she was sometimes credited with authorship of the story and the existence of the German original denied, thus resulting in a double deception.

The story is set during the Thirty Years' War. The writer, the Rev. Abraham Schweidler, a good and simple minded man, almost loses his only child Maria to a plot by a rejected suitor (the Sheriff) accusing her of witchcraft aided by an evil and jealous woman of the neighborhood. After a formal trial and under the threat of the most dire torture Maria, wholly innocent of the preposterous crime, confesses. While on the way to the pyre she is rescued by a courageous young nobleman who loved her who reveals the evil plot against her. The forgery is done with great skill and detail using the language and expressions that would be common to the period it is set in.

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Philip Burne-Jones, The Vampire

Location unknown

Date: 1897
Technique: Unknown

Edward Burne-Jones’ son, Philip Burne-Jones, was also a painter, but his only well known painting is “The Vampire”, a portrait of a femme fatale vampire leaning over her male victim. The model for Philip’s vampire was Mrs. Patrick Campbell, an actress who in 1893. played the lead in “The Second Mrs. Tanqueray”, captured the public eye, and became famous for her beauty and talent. Philip dated her for a while, showered her with expensive presents, and painted her several times. But for the vampire portrait he worked from memory after she broke his heart by dumping him for a leading man and then a series of other lovers. In 1897, he displayed the painting at the annual summer exhibition of the New Gallery, a major show that included works by Sargent as well as Philip’s father. Alongside the painting, Philip included a poem “The Vampire” by his cousin, Rudyard Kipling, that described the foolishness of a man allowing himself to be destroyed by a heartless woman. This exhibition was held only a few months before Stoker’s Dracula was first in print.

Philip’s painting received good reviews in London, but bad reviews later, after a New York showing. Some reporters also recognized his model, and speculation on the circumstances that led to her depiction as a vampire became the focus of gossip. During her American tour, which coincided with the American exhibition of “The Vampire”, Mrs. Campbell’s agent played up her connection to the painting. Philip, his painting, and Mrs. Campbell all came together in Chicago and the press had a field day with the story. In 1907, Porter Emerson Browne was commissioned by the actor Robert Hilliard to write a play based on the painting, which was called ”A Fool There Was”. Katherine Kaelred played the vampire and the play was carefully constructed so that it ended with a tableau that echoed the painting. The play was a popular success and influenced the burgeoning American movie industry. William Fox bought the rights to the play and created a film version, which stared Theda Bara. This role as a heartless femme fatale, which Bara continued to play in over 40 films, earned her the nickname ”the vamp”.

Rudyard Kipling was allegedly inspired to write his poem ''The Vampire'' after viewing the painting.

A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you or I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair,
(We called her the woman who did not care),
But the fool he called her his lady fair--
(Even as you or I!)

Oh, the years we waste and the tears we waste,
And the work of our head and hand
Belong to the woman who did not know
(And now we know that she never could know)
And did not understand!

A fool there was and his goods he spent,
(Even as you or I!)
Honour and faith and a sure intent
(And it wasn't the least what the lady meant),
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(Even as you or I!)

Oh, the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned
Belong to the woman who didn't know why
(And now we know that she never knew why)
And did not understand!

The fool was stripped to his foolish hide,
(Even as you or I!)
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside--
(But it isn't on record the lady tried)
So some of him lived but the most of him died--
(Even as you or I!)

``And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame
That stings like a white-hot brand--
It's coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeing, at last, she could never know why)
And never could understand!''

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