"lgiva was Joanna Boyce’s first painting to be exhibited at the Royal Academy. Ford Madox Brown declared it 'the best head in the rooms'... Boyce’s Elgiva is stark yet serene. It is perhaps what makes this work so striking. I gaze upon Elgiva, which is a painting of an Anglo-Saxon queen, and I find her heartbreaking." http://preraphaelitesisterhood.com/joanna-boyce-elgiva/