Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919)

Evelyn De Morgan painted a series of allegorical pictures on the progress of the soul towards enlightenment, of which The Love Potion is one. In the painting a scholarly sorceress concocts a potion in a book-lined study, while a small black cat sits at her feet. One of the books behind her is inscribed 'Paracelsus', the Renaissance physician, alchemist and occultist who was the leading expert of his time on the 'spiritual', creating an allegorical narrative which references De Morgan's understanding of Spiritualism.

The model for the sorceress was Jane Morris, and a head study is in the De Morgan Foundation, Compton, Surrey.