Alphabe Thursday … Z is for Mary Zambaco

Maria Zambaco (1843-1914), born Marie Terpsithea Cassavetti was an artist and model favoured by the Pre Raphaelites; such as Edward Burne-Jones, Whistler and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  She was the daughter of Hadji and Euphrosyne Cassavetti, cousins of the Ionides; leaders of the London Circle of Greek Merchants and Financiers. She was married to Demetris Zambaco; doctor to the Greek community in Paris.  Maria found the marriage humdrum so she  left her husband and returned with her two children to London where she studied art.

In 1866 Mrs Cassavetti commissioned Edward Burne-Jones who was a member the Society of Painters in Water- Colours, to paint, Maria in Cupid finding Psyche, an introduction which led to their tragic affair.
In 1870 Burne-Jones resigned his membership of the society following a controversy over his painting Phyllis and Demophoön.

Maria was clearly recognizable as the barely draped Phyllis (as they are in several of Burne-Jones’s finest works), and the draped nakedness of Demophoön coupled with the suggestion of female sexual assertiveness offended Victorian sensibilities. Burne-Jones was asked to make a slight alteration, but instead he took the painting and himself from the Society.

During this time Burne-Jones left his wife for Maria which caused a great scandal, especially when Maria threatened to commit suicide. After they broke up, Maria continued to appear in Burne-Jones’ paintings as a sorceress or a temptress, such as in the Beguiling of Merlin and the controversial Phyllis and Demophoön.

Maria Zambaco 

Maria continued to dedicated herself to art, and studied at the Slade School under Alphonse Legros and under Rodin in Paris. She died there in 1914 and her body was returned for interment in the family sarcophagus at the Greek Orthodox necropolis in London where she is recorded under her maiden name.

Further Reading William Morris a life in our times by Fiona MaCarthy