Oil Paintings Reproductions

About The Artist - John Collier (January 27, 1850-April 11, 1934)

John Maler Collier, OBE RP ROI, was a British writer and painter in the Pre-Raphaelite style.

About The Painting - Lilith

Collier was one of the most prominent painters of his time and painted scenes from mythology as well as portraits of Bishops, Lords, and Kings.

Lilith is the painting of a mythological woman who is considered to be Adam's first wife. In Mesopotamian mythology, Lilith is depicted as storm demon and is associated with wind and also the bearer of diseases, illnesses, and death.

Collier's Lilith is a tempting, beautiful woman with long golden wavy tresses and a perfectly voluptuous body that can lure any man. A serpent is entwined around her body, and the head of the serpent is being caressed by Lilith lovingly as she cradles him between her face and shoulder. The calmness and peace reflecting on Lilith's face are in complete contrast to what she is capable of.

According to midrashic literature, Adam's first wife was a woman named Lilith and not Eve. Eve was created by God as a replacement, because Lilith rebelled and abandoned Adam.

Collier's mastery at using brushstrokes so deftly that they were almost invisible, gave his painting a beautiful flat look. His use of paints was also flat but contrasted with his superb and strong sense of color that according to Geoffrey Ashton, "created a disconcerting verisimilitude in both mood and appearance".

Collier's paintings such as Lilith and other have been described as "painterly works with a fresh use of light and color," by the Dictionary of Portrait painters in Britain up to 1920.