This week I watched a beautiful production of the life of Lilias Trotter.
Video:
“Many Beautiful Things: The Life and Vision of Lilias Trotter:
Featuring the voices of Michelle Dockery (Downtown Abbey) and John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones)
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Laura Waters Hinson
Original Music: Sleeping at Last
This video was released in 2015 by Oxvision and is 70 minutes long.
Available at Amazon or Vision Video.
I am going to do a full post on the life of Lilias Trotter in the near future. In the meantime, her story is beautifully told in the video. Below is the description from the video, since I could not improve on their summary.
Description (from the DVD):
Could you give up a dream to pursue your true calling? That’s exactly what Lilias Trotter did. The
documentary Many Beautiful Things shares her life story, explaining the heart-wrenching decision she made to give up comfort and potential fame in Victorian England to serve women and children in Northern Africa.
Lilias was a gifted artist who found favor in the eyes of respected art critic John Ruskin. Ruskin mentored Lilias in her artistic endeavors, seeing such potential that he claimed her work could be “immortal.” She wrestled mightily with the decision, but eventually moved to French Algeria to share God’s love with the people there—a choice that was almost unheard of for a single woman of that time.
This artistically produced documentary uses Lilias’s paintings and journal entries to share her story. Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) provides the voice of Lilias Trotter and John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones) portrays John Ruskin in this 70-minute documentary. The DVD also includes special features, such as “behind the scenes” with Michelle Dockery and a theatrical trailer.
Commentary:
I was so entranced by Lilias Trotter’s life and vision that I researched where one could find more about her including some of her drawings on the Web.
You can get a Miriam Huffman Rockness’s biography, “A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter” on Amazon.com. You can also get books containing reprints of her many inspirational drawings.
There are many places available where you can find prints of her inspirational drawings. I purchased a beautiful print on wood from:
FineArtAmerica.com
2 responses to “Lilias Trotter: Many Beautiful Things”
Mary, I so enjoy your blog posts, you have published info on so many interesting Christian women, many of whom I’ve not heard of before. I hope to watch this video this weekend, and to share it with my daughter, Sarah. Keep up the great research and writing! – Your Fan in Minnesota
God bless you and your daughter. If you enjoy these stories look under the “Review” section of my blog and check out the any resources I list there for stories about women.