William James Stillman & Marie (Michael) Spartali

Family Group Sheet

NameWilliam James Stillman

Birth1 Jun 1828, Schenectadi, New York, USA

Death6 Jul 1901, Frimley, Surrey, England

MemoCremated at Brookwood.

Residence1901, Frimley, Surrey, England

MemoAccording to Martin Hopkinson (1901 British Census).

OccupationAuthor, journalist, painter & Pre-Raphaelite specialist. American Consul at Rome and Chania.

OriginUSA.

Note 1Maria Spartali was his second wife. He appears to have been responsible for introducing the art dealer Stavros Dilberoglou (of Turkish origin) to the Rossettis and Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.

Note 2Stillman tried and failed to collect funds from the Greek community in London to support the Cretan uprising (against the Ottoman empire) in 1868. Author of ‘The Cretan Insurrection of 1866-68’ (New York 1874) and of ‘Autobiography of a Journalist’.

Note 3Introduced his friend Dante Gabriel Rossetti to the drug chloral believing it was a cure for insomnia.

Marriage10 Apr 1871, Register Office, Chelsea, London, England

SpouseMarie (Michael) Spartali, 2C5R

Birth10 Mar 1844, Hornsey, Middx, England

MemoHornsey according to Martin Hopkinson (1901 Census). Edmonton, Middx., according to Vassiadis.

Death6 Mar 1927, London, England

MemoCremated at Brookwood.

Baptism31 Mar 1844, Chapel of Our Saviour, Finsbury Circus, City of London, England

Residence1901, Frimley, Surrey, England

MemoAccording to Martin Hopkinson (1901 Census).

OccupationPainter.

Note 1Pre-Raphaelite ‘stunner’ and model. One of the ‘Three Graces’. Appears (2nd from left) in Burne-Jones's ‘The Mill’ (1870-82) - Ionides Collection, V&A. Photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron.

Note 2Trained under Ford Madox Brown 1864-70, alongside his daughters Catherine and Lucy. Exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery 1877-1887 and then at the New Gallery.

Note 3Married Stillman against her family’s wishes. A third child died in infancy. The family settled in Florence in 1878 and in Rome until 1898.

God-parentsMarietta A. Lascarides.

Flags***, Giustiniani Pi, Mavrogordato, Maximo, Scanavi, Spartali 1

FatherMichael (Dimitrios) Spartali (1818-1914)

MotherEuphrosyne (P.) Varsamis (1825-1913)

Children

1 FEuphrosyne ‘Effie’ (William) Stillman, 3C4R

Birth7 Jan 1872, London, England

Death18 Aug 1911, Coneyhurst, Ewhurst, Surrey, England

Burial1911, Ewhurst, Surrey, England

SpouseWilliam George Brookfield Ritchie (1876->1935)

Marriage6 Apr 1905, London, England