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The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by
William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism ...
,
John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...
, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti,
James Collinson James Collinson (9 May 1825 – 24 January 1881) was a Victorian painter who was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood from 1848 to 1850. Life He was born at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and was the son of a bookseller. He entered ...
, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner who formed a seven-member "Brotherhood" modelled in part on the Nazarene movement. The Brotherhood was only ever a loose association and their principles were shared by other artists of the time, including Ford Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes and Marie Spartali Stillman. Later followers of the principles of the Brotherhood included Edward Burne-Jones,
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...
and
John William Waterhouse John William Waterhouse (6 April 184910 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His artworks were known for their de ...
. The group sought a return to the abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian art. They rejected what they regarded as the mechanistic approach first adopted by Mannerist artists who succeeded
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...
and
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...
. The Brotherhood believed the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art, hence the name "Pre-Raphaelite". In particular, the group objected to the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, founder of the English
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
, whom they called "Sir Sloshua". To the Pre-Raphaelites, according to William Michael Rossetti, "sloshy" meant "anything lax or scamped in the process of painting ... and hence ... any thing or person of a commonplace or conventional kind". The group associated their work with
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
, an English critic whose influences were driven by his religious background. Christian themes were abundant. The group continued to accept the concepts of history painting and
mimesis Mimesis (; grc, μίμησις, ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including '' imitatio'', imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the a ...
, imitation of nature, as central to the purpose of art. The Pre-Raphaelites defined themselves as a reform movement, created a distinct name for their form of art, and published a periodical, '' The Germ'', to promote their ideas. The group's debates were recorded in the ''Pre-Raphaelite Journal''. The Brotherhood separated after almost five years.


Beginnings

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in John Millais's parents' house on Gower Street, London in 1848. At the first meeting, the painters
John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...
, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and
William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism ...
were present. Hunt and Millais were students at the
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
and had met in another loose association, the Cyclographic Club, a sketching society. At his own request Rossetti became a pupil of Ford Madox Brown in 1848.McGann, Jerome J. ''The Complete Writings and Pictures of Dante Gabriel Rossetti'', NINES consortium, Creative Commons License; http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/s40.rap.html retrieved 16 December 2012. At that date, Rossetti and Hunt shared lodgings in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia, Central London. Hunt had started painting ''The Eve of St. Agnes'' based on Keats's poem of the same name, but it was not completed until 1867.Hilton, Timothy (1970). ''The Pre-Raphaelites''. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 28–33. . As an aspiring poet, Rossetti wished to develop the links between Romantic poetry and art. By autumn, four more members, painters
James Collinson James Collinson (9 May 1825 – 24 January 1881) was a Victorian painter who was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood from 1848 to 1850. Life He was born at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and was the son of a bookseller. He entered ...
and Frederic George Stephens, Rossetti's brother, poet and critic William Michael Rossetti, and sculptor Thomas Woolner, had joined to form a seven-member-strong brotherhood. Ford Madox Brown was invited to join, but the more senior artist remained independent but supported the group throughout the PRB period of Pre-Raphaelitism and contributed to '' The Germ''. Other young painters and sculptors became close associates, including Charles Allston Collins, and Alexander Munro. The PRB intended to keep the existence of the brotherhood secret from members of the Royal Academy.


Early doctrines

The brotherhood's early doctrines, as defined by William Michael Rossetti, were expressed in four declarations:
# to have genuine ideas to express; # to study Nature attentively, so as to know how to express them; # to sympathise with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parading and learned by rote; and # most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues.
The principles were deliberately non-dogmatic, since the brotherhood wished to emphasise the personal responsibility of individual artists to determine their own ideas and methods of depiction. Influenced by
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, the members thought freedom and responsibility were inseparable. Nevertheless, they were particularly fascinated by
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
culture, believing it to possess a spiritual and creative integrity that had been lost in later eras. The emphasis on medieval culture clashed with principles of
realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: * Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...
which stress the independent observation of nature. In its early stages, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood believed its two interests were consistent with one another, but in later years the movement divided and moved in two directions. The realists were led by Hunt and Millais, while the medievalists were led by Rossetti and his followers, Edward Burne-Jones and
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...
. The split was never absolute, since both factions believed that art was essentially spiritual in character, opposing their
idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ...
to the
materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...
realism associated with Courbet and
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...
. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was greatly influenced by nature and its members used great detail to show the natural world using bright and sharp-focus techniques on a white canvas. In attempts to revive the brilliance of colour found in Quattrocento art, Hunt and Millais developed a technique of painting in thin glazes of pigment over a wet white ground in the hope that the colours would retain jewel-like transparency and clarity. Their emphasis on brilliance of colour was a reaction to the excessive use of
bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
by earlier British artists, such as Reynolds, David Wilkie and Benjamin Robert Haydon. Bitumen produces unstable areas of muddy darkness, an effect the Pre-Raphaelites despised. In 1848, Rossetti and Hunt made a list of "Immortals", artistic heroes whom they admired, especially from literature, some of whose work would form subjects for PRB paintings, notably including Keats and Tennyson.


First exhibitions and publications

The first exhibitions of Pre-Raphaelite work occurred in 1849. Both Millais's '' Isabella'' (1848–1849) and Holman Hunt's ''
Rienzi ' (''Rienzi, the last of the tribunes''; WWV 49) is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Ri ...
'' (1848–1849) were exhibited at the Royal Academy. Rossetti's '' Girlhood of Mary Virgin'' was shown at a Free Exhibition on Hyde Park Corner. As agreed, all members of the brotherhood signed their work with their name and the initials "PRB". Between January and April 1850, the group published a literary magazine, ''The Germ'' edited by William Rossetti which published poetry by the Rossettis, Woolner, and Collinson and essays on art and literature by associates of the brotherhood, such as
Coventry Patmore Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore (23 July 1823 – 26 November 1896) was an English poet and literary critic. He is best known for his book of poetry ''The Angel in the House'', a narrative poem about the Victorian ideal of a happy marriage. As ...
. As the short run-time implies, the magazine did not manage to achieve sustained momentum. (Daly 1989)


Public controversy

In 1850, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood became the subject of controversy after the exhibition of Millais' painting ''
Christ in the House of His Parents ''Christ in the House of His Parents'' (1849–50) is a painting by John Everett Millais depicting the Holy Family in Saint Joseph's carpentry workshop. The painting was extremely controversial when first exhibited, prompting many negative revi ...
'' was considered to be blasphemous by many reviewers, notably
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
. Dickens considered Millais' Mary to be ugly. Millais had used his sister-in-law, Mary Hodgkinson, as the model for Mary in his painting. The brotherhood's medievalism was attacked as backward-looking and its extreme devotion to detail was condemned as ugly and jarring to the eye. According to Dickens, Millais made the Holy Family look like alcoholics and slum-dwellers, adopting contorted and absurd "medieval" poses. After the controversy, James Collinson resigned from the Brotherhood due to his belief that it was bringing the Christian religion into disrepute. The remaining members met to discuss whether he should be replaced by Charles Allston Collins or
Walter Howell Deverell Walter Howell Deverell (1827–1854) was a United States-born British artist, closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Biography Deverell was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, into an English family who moved back to Britain w ...
, but were unable to make a decision. From that point the group disbanded, though its influence continued. Artists who had worked in the style initially continued but no longer signed works "PRB". The brotherhood found support from the critic
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
, who praised its devotion to nature and rejection of conventional methods of composition. The Pre-Raphaelites were influenced by Ruskin's theories. He wrote to ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' defending their work and subsequently met them. Initially, he favoured Millais, who travelled to Scotland in the summer of 1853 with Ruskin and Ruskin's wife, Euphemia Chalmers Ruskin, née Gray (now best known as
Effie Gray Euphemia Chalmers Millais, Lady Millais (''née'' Gray; 7 May 1828 – 23 December 1897) was a Scottish artists' model and the wife of Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. She had previously been married to the art critic John Ruskin ...
). The main object of the journey was to paint Ruskin's portrait. Effie became increasingly attached to Millais, creating a crisis. In subsequent annulment proceedings, Ruskin himself made a statement to his lawyer to the effect that his marriage had been unconsummated. The marriage was annulled on grounds of non-
consummation In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage t ...
, leaving Effie free to marry Millais, but causing a public scandal. Millais began to move away from the Pre-Raphaelite style after his marriage, and Ruskin ultimately attacked his later works. Ruskin continued to support Hunt and Rossetti and provided funds to encourage the art of
Elizabeth Siddall Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall (25 July 1829 – 11 February 1862), better known as Elizabeth Siddal, was an English artist, poet, and artists' model. Significant collections of her artworks can be found at Wightwick Manor and the Ashmolean. Sidda ...
, Rossetti's wife. By 1853 the original PRB had virtually dissolved, with only Holman Hunt remaining true to its stated aims. But the term "Pre-Raphaelite" stuck to Rossetti and others, including
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...
and Edward Burne-Jones, with whom he became involved in
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
in 1857. Hence the term Pre-Raphaelite is associated with the much wider and long-lived art movement, including the dreamy, yearning images of women produced by Rossetti and several of his followers.


Later developments and influence

Artists influenced by the brotherhood include John Brett,
Philip Calderon Philip Hermogenes Calderon (Poitiers 3 May 1833 – 30 April 1898 London) was an English painter of French birth (mother) and Spanish (father) ancestry who initially worked in the Pre-Raphaelite style before moving towards historical genre ...
, Arthur Hughes,
Gustave Moreau Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism.'' ...
, Evelyn De Morgan,Hilton, Timothy (1970). ''The Pre-Raphaelites''. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 202–05. . Frederic Sandys (who entered the Pre-Raphaelite circle in 1857) and
John William Waterhouse John William Waterhouse (6 April 184910 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His artworks were known for their de ...
. Ford Madox Brown, who was associated with them from the beginning, is often seen as most closely adopting the Pre-Raphaelite principles. One follower who developed his own distinct style was Aubrey Beardsley, who was pre-eminently influenced by Burne-Jones. After 1856, Dante Gabriel Rossetti became an inspiration for the medievalising strand of the movement. He was the link between the two types of Pre-Raphaelite painting (nature and Romance) after the PRB became lost in the later decades of the century. Rossetti, although the least committed to the brotherhood, continued the name and changed its style. He began painting versions of femme fatales using models like
Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband Willia ...
, in paintings such as '' Proserpine'', '' The Day Dream'', and '' La Pia de' Tolomei''. His work influenced his friend
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...
, in whose firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. he became a partner, and with whose wife Jane he may have had an affair. Ford Madox Brown and Edward Burne-Jones also became partners in the firm. Through Morris's company, the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood influenced many interior designers and architects, arousing interest in
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
designs and other crafts leading to the Arts and Crafts movement headed by William Morris. Holman Hunt was involved with the movement to reform design through the Della Robbia Pottery company. After 1850, Hunt and Millais moved away from direct imitation of medieval art. They stressed the realist and scientific aspects of the movement, though Hunt continued to emphasise the spiritual significance of art, seeking to reconcile religion and science by making accurate observations and studies of locations in Egypt and Palestine for his paintings on biblical subjects. In contrast, Millais abandoned Pre-Raphaelitism after 1860, adopting a much broader and looser style influenced by Reynolds. William Morris and others condemned his reversal of principles. Pre-Raphaelitism had a significant impact in Scotland and on Scottish artists. The figure in Scottish art most associated with the Pre-Raphaelites was the Aberdeen-born William Dyce (1806–1864). Dyce befriended the young Pre-Raphaelites in London and introduced their work to Ruskin. His later work was Pre-Raphaelite in its spirituality, as can be seen in his ''The Man of Sorrows'' and ''David in the Wilderness'' (both 1860), which contain a Pre-Raphaelite attention to detail. Joseph Noel Paton (1821–1901) studied at the Royal Academy schools in London, where he became a friend of Millais and he subsequently followed him into Pre-Raphaelitism, producing pictures that stressed detail and melodrama such as ''The Bludie Tryst'' (1855). His later paintings, like those of Millais, have been criticised for descending into popular sentimentality.D. Macmillan, ''Scottish Art 1460–1990'' (Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1990), , p. 213. Also influenced by Millais was James Archer (1823–1904), whose work includes ''Summertime, Gloucestershire'' (1860) and who from 1861 began a series of Arthurian-based paintings including ''La Morte d'Arthur'' and ''Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere''. Pre-Raphaelism also inspired painters like Lawrence Alma-Tadema. The movement influenced many later British artists into the 20th century. Rossetti came to be seen as a precursor of the wider European
Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...
movement. There is evidence to suggest that a number of paintings by the German artist
Paula Modersohn-Becker Paula Modersohn-Becker (8 February 1876 – 20 November 1907) was a German Expressionist painter of the late 19th and early 20th century. Her work is noted for its intensity and its blunt, unapologetic humanity, and for the many self-portraits the ...
were influenced by Rossetti. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has a world-renowned collection of works by Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelites that, some claim, strongly influenced the young J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote '' The Hobbit'' and ''
The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...
'', with influences taken from the same mythological scenes portrayed by the Pre-Raphaelites. Tolkien considered his own group of school friends and artistic associates, the so-called TCBS, as a group in the vein of the Pre-Raphaelites. In the 20th century artistic ideals changed, and art moved away from representing reality. After the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, Pre-Raphaelite art was devalued for its literary qualities and was scorned by critics as sentimental and concocted "artistic bric-a-brac". In the 1960s there was a major revival of Pre-Raphaelitism. Exhibitions and catalogues of works, culminating in a 1984 exhibition in London's
Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
, re-established a canon of Pre-Raphaelite work. Among many other exhibitions, there was another large show at
Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
in 2012–13. In the late 20th century the
Brotherhood of Ruralists The Brotherhood of Ruralists is a British art group founded in 1975 in Wellow, Somerset, to paint nature. Their work is figurative with a strong adherence to 'traditional' skills. Painting in oil and watercolour predominate, with mixed media asse ...
based its aims on Pre-Raphaelitism, while the
Stuckists Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.Birmingham Group have also derived inspiration from it.


List of artists


Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

*
James Collinson James Collinson (9 May 1825 – 24 January 1881) was a Victorian painter who was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood from 1848 to 1850. Life He was born at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and was the son of a bookseller. He entered ...
(painter) *
William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism ...
(painter) *
John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...
(painter) * Dante Gabriel Rossetti (painter, poet) * William Michael Rossetti (critic) * Frederic George Stephens (critic) * Thomas Woolner (sculptor, poet)


Associated artists and figures

* John Brett (painter) * Ford Madox Brown (painter, designer) *
Lucy Madox Brown Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti (19 July 1843 – 12 April 1894) was a British artist, author, and model associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. She was married to the writer and art critic William Michael Rossetti. Early life Madox Brown was born in P ...
(painter, writer) *
Richard Burchett Richard Burchett (1815–1875) was a British artist and educator on the fringes of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who was for over twenty years the Headmaster of what later became the Royal College of Art. He was later described as "a promi ...
(painter, educator) * Edward Burne-Jones (painter, designer) * Charles Allston Collins (painter) *
Frank Cadogan Cowper Frank Cadogan Cowper (16 October 1877 – 17 November 1958)"Obituary: Fran ...
(painter) *
Fanny Cornforth Fanny Cornforth (born Sarah Cox; 3 January 1835 – 24 February 1909) was an English artist's model, and the mistress and muse of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Cornforth performed the duties of housekeeper for Rosse ...
(artist's model) *
Antonio Corsi Antonio Corsi (Florence, 1630 – Florence, 1679) was a noble Italian, first Count of Montepescali and Third Marquis of Caiazzo, son of the Marquis Giovanni Corsi and the Patrizia of Firenze Lucrezia Salviati, brother of Domenico Maria Corsi. ...
(artist's model) * Evelyn De Morgan (painter) *
Walter Deverell Walter Howell Deverell (1827–1854) was a United States-born British artist, closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Biography Deverell was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, into an English family who moved back to Britain wh ...
(painter) *
Fanny Eaton Fanny Eaton (23 June 1835 – 4 March 1924) was a Jamaican-born artist's model and domestic worker. She is best known as a model for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their circle in England between 1859 and 1867. Her public debut was in Simeo ...
(artist's model) * Frederick Startridge Ellis (publisher, editor, poet) *
John William Godward John William Godward (9 August 1861 – 13 December 1922) was an English painter from the end of the Neo-Classicist era. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, but his style of painting fell out of favour with the rise of modern ...
(painter) *
Effie Gray Euphemia Chalmers Millais, Lady Millais (''née'' Gray; 7 May 1828 – 23 December 1897) was a Scottish artists' model and the wife of Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. She had previously been married to the art critic John Ruskin ...
(artist's model) * Henry Holiday (painter, stained-glass artist,
illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complic ...
) * Arthur Hughes (painter, book illustrator) *
Edward Robert Hughes Edward Robert Hughes (5 November 1851 – 23 April 1914) was a British painter, who primarily worked in watercolours, but also produced a number of oil paintings. He was influenced by his uncle and artist, Arthur Hughes who was associated ...
(painter and artist's model) * Frederic, Lord Leighton (painter) * Mary Lizzie Macomber (painter) *
Robert Braithwaite Martineau Robert Braithwaite Martineau (19 January 1826 – 13 February 1869) was an English painter. Life Martineau was the son of Elizabeth Batty and Philip Martineau, a Master in Chancery. Through his mother, he was the grandson of Robert Batty, M.D ...
(painter) * Annie Miller (artist's model) *
Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband Willia ...
(artist's model) * Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford (painter and artist's model) *
May Morris Mary "May" Morris (25 March 1862 – 17 October 1938) was an English artisan, embroidery designer, jeweller, socialist, and editor. She was the younger daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and his wife and artists' ...
(embroiderer and designer) *
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...
(designer, writer) * Christina Rossetti (poet and artist's model) *
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
(critic) * Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (painter) * Emma Sandys (painter) * Thomas Seddon (painter) *
Frederic Shields Frederic James Shields (14 March 1833 – 26 February 1911) was a British artist, illustrator, and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown. Early years Frederic James Shields ...
(painter) * Elizabeth Siddal (painter, poet, and artist's model) * Simeon Solomon (painter) * Marie Spartali Stillman (painter) * Algernon Charles Swinburne (poet) *
Henry Wallis Henry Wallis (21 February 1830 – 20 December 1916) was a British Pre-Raphaelite painter, writer and collector. Wallis was born in London on 21 February 1830, but his father's name and occupation are unknown. When in 1845 his mother, Mary ...
(painter) * William Lindsay Windus (painter)


Loosely associated artists

* Lawrence Alma-Tadema (painter) * Sophie Gengembre Anderson (painter) * Wyke Bayliss (painter) * George Price Boyce (painter) * Joanna Mary Boyce (painter) * Sir Frederick William Burton (painter) * Kate Elizabeth Bunce (painter) * Julia Margaret Cameron (photographer) * James Campbell (painter) * John Collier (painter) * Marian Collier (painter) * William Davis (painter) *
Frank Bernard Dicksee Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee (27 November 1853 – 17 October 1928) was an English Victorian painter and illustrator, best known for his pictures of dramatic literary, historical, and legendary scenes. He also was a noted painter of portra ...
(painter) *
Thomas Cooper Gotch Thomas Cooper Gotch or T. C. Gotch (1854–1931) was an English painter and book illustrator loosely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement; he was the brother of John Alfred Gotch, the architect. Gotch studied art in London and Antwer ...
(painter) * Charles Edward Hallé (painter) * John Lee (painter) * Edmund Leighton (painter) * James Lionel Michael (minor poet, mentor to Henry Kendall) * Charles William Mitchell (painter) * Joseph Noel Paton (painter) *
Charles Edward Perugini Charles Edward Perugini (1 September 1839 – 22 December 1918), originally Carlo Perugini, was an Italian-born English painter of the Romantic and Victorian era. Biography Perugini was born in Naples, but lived with his family in Engla ...
(painter) * Gustav Pope (painter) *
Henry Meynell Rheam Henry Meynell Rheam (13 January 1859 – 1920) was a painter from England. Rheam was born in Birkenhead and studied in Germany and at the Académie Julian in Paris before settling in Newlyn and associating with the Newlyn School. He is kn ...
(painter) *
Frederick Smallfield Frederick Smallfield (16 October 1829 – 10 September 1915)England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, 1915. "SMALLFIELD Frederick of 3 Crescent-road Church End Finchley Middlesex died 10 September 1915 at Netherbrook Nether-street Finchley ...
(painter) * James Tissot (painter) * Elihu Vedder (painter) *
John William Waterhouse John William Waterhouse (6 April 184910 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His artworks were known for their de ...
(painter) * William James Webbe (painter) * Daniel Alexander Williamson (painter) * James Abbott McNeill Whistler (painter) * Aubrey Beardsley (painter)


Illustration and poetry

Many members of the ‘inner’ Pre-Raphaelite circle ( Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...
,
William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism ...
, Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones) and ‘outer’ circle ( Frederick Sandys, Arthur Hughes, Simeon Solomon,
Henry Hugh Armstead Henry Hugh Armstead (18 June 18284 December 1905) was an English sculptor and illustrator, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites. Biography Armstead was born at Bloomsbury in central London, the son of John Armstead, a chaser and heraldic engraver ...
, Joseph Noel Paton,
Frederic Shields Frederic James Shields (14 March 1833 – 26 February 1911) was a British artist, illustrator, and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown. Early years Frederic James Shields ...
, Matthew James Lawless) were working concurrently in painting, illustration, and sometimes poetry. Victorian morality judged literature as superior to painting, because of its “noble grounds for noble emotion.” Robert Buchanan (a writer and opponent of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) felt so strongly about this artistic hierarchy that he wrote: “The truth is that literature, and more particularly poetry, is in a very bad way when one art gets hold of another, and imposes upon it its conditions and limitations." This was the hostile environment in which Pre-Raphaelites were defiantly working in various media. The Pre-Raphaelites attempted to revitalize subject painting, which had been dismissed as artificial. Their belief that each picture should tell a story was an important step for the unification of painting and literature (eventually deemed the
Sister Arts A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...
), or at least a break in the rigid hierarchy promoted by writers like Robert Buchanan. The Pre-Raphaelite desire for more extensive affiliation between painting and literature also manifested in illustration. Illustration is a more direct unification of these media and, like subject painting, can assert a narrative of its own. For the Pre-Raphaelites, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti specifically, there was anxiety about the constraints of illustration. In 1855, Rossetti wrote to William Allingham about the independence of illustration: “I have not begun even designing for them yet, but fancy I shall try the ‘Vision of Sin’ and ‘Palace of Art’ etc. – those where one can allegorize on one's own hook, without killing for oneself and everyone a distinct idea of the poet's." This passage makes apparent Rossetti's desire to not just support the poet's narrative, but to create an allegorical illustration that functions separately from the text as well. In this respect, Pre-Raphaelite illustrations go beyond depicting an episode from a poem, but rather function like subject paintings within a text.


Collections

There are major collections of Pre-Raphaelite work in United Kingdom museums such as the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the
Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
,
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
,
Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three ...
,
Lady Lever Art Gallery The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral ...
, and Liverpool's
Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...
. The
Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...
and the Delaware Art Museum in the US have the most significant collections of Pre-Raphaelite art outside the UK. The Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico also has a notable collection of Pre-Raphaelite works, including Sir Edward Burne-Jones' '' The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon'', Frederic Lord Leighton's ''
Flaming June ''Flaming June'' is a painting by Sir Frederic Leighton, produced in 1895. Painted with oil paints on a square canvas, it is widely considered to be Leighton's magnum opus, showing his classicist nature. It is thought that the woman portrayed ...
'', and works by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Frederic Sandys. The Ger Eenens Collection The Netherlands includes a work by John Collier, Circe (signed and dated 1885), that was exhibited at the Chicago World Fair 1893. The British exhibit occupied 14 rooms, showcased a theme familiar with the Fair's outlook, hence they had a sizeable exhibit of Pre-Raphaelite and New-Classical painters. They were extremely well received. There is a set of Pre-Raphaelite murals in the Old Library at the Oxford Union, depicting scenes from the Arthurian legends, painted between 1857 and 1859 by a team of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and Edward Burne-Jones. The
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
houses at Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton, and at Wallington Hall,
Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...
, both have significant and representative collections.
Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musical ...
is an avid collector of Pre-Raphaelite works, and a selection of 300 items from his collection were shown at an exhibition at the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
in London in 2003. Kelmscott Manor, the country home of
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...
from 1871 until his death in 1896, is owned by the
Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...
and is open to the public. The Manor is featured in Morris' 1890 novel ''
News from Nowhere ''News from Nowhere'' (1890) is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. It was first published in serial form in the ''Commonweal'' journal begin ...
''. It also appears in the background of ''Water Willow'', a portrait of his wife,
Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband Willia ...
, painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1871. There are exhibitions connected with Morris and Rossetti's early experiments with photography.


Portrayal in popular culture

The story of the brotherhood, from its controversial first exhibition to being embraced by the art establishment, has been depicted in two BBC television series. The first, '' The Love School'', was broadcast in 1975; the second is the 2009 BBC television drama serial '' Desperate Romantics'' by
Peter Bowker Peter Bowker (born 5 January 1959) is a British playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for the television serials ''Blackpool'' (2004), a musical drama about a shady casino owner; ''Occupation'' (2009), which follows three military servic ...
. Although much of the latter's material is derived from Franny Moyle's factual book ''Desperate Romantics: The Private Lives of the Pre-Raphaelites'', the series occasionally departs from established facts in favour of dramatic licence and is prefaced by the disclaimer: "In the mid-19th century, a group of young men challenged the art establishment of the day. The pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were inspired by the real world around them, yet took imaginative licence in their art. This story, based on their lives and loves, follows in that inventive spirit."
Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...
's television film '' Dante's Inferno'' (1967) contains brief scenes on some of the leading Pre-Raphaelites but mainly concentrates on the life of Rossetti, played by
Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...
. Chapter 36 of the 1952 novel '' East of Eden'' by
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...
references pre-Raphaelite influenced images used to identify different classrooms: "The pictures identified the rooms, and the pre-Raphaelite influence was overwhelming. Galahad standing in full armor pointed the way for third–graders;
Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily kno ...
's race urged on the fourth, the '' Pot of Basil'' confused the fifth grade, and so on until the denunciation of Cataline sent the eighth–graders on to high school with a sense of high civic virtue. Cal and Aron were assigned to the seventh grade because of their age, and they learned every shadow of its picture— Laocoön completely wrapped in snakes".


See also

*
American Pre-Raphaelites The American Pre-Raphaelites was a movement of landscape painters in the United States during the mid-19th century. It was named for its connection to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and for the influence of John Ruskin on its members. Painter ...
*
Early Renaissance painting Early may refer to: History * The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.: ** Early Christianity ** Early modern Europe Places in the United States * Early, Iowa * Early, Texas * Ear ...
* English school of painting * Florence Claxton *
Hogarth Club The Hogarth Club was an exhibition society of artists, based at 84 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, London, UK, which existed between 1858 and 1861. It was founded by former members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood after the original PRB had been ...
* John Wharlton Bunney * List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings * Nazarenes * New English Art Club * James Smetham * '' The Light of the World''


References


Sources

* * Barringer, Tim, Jason Rosenfeld, and Alison Smith (2012). ''Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde'', London, England: Tate Publishing, * Bucher, Gregory (2004).
Review
of Matthew Dickerson. 'Following Gandalf. Epic Battles and Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings'", ''Journal of Religion & Society'', 6, ISSN 1522-5658, webpage accessed 13 October 2007 * * Dickerson, Matthew (2003). ''Following Gandalf : epic battles and moral victory in the Lord of the rings'', Grand Rapids, Mich. : Brazos Press, * * *Latham, David, ''Haunted Texts: Studies in Pre-Raphaelitism in Honour of William E. Fredeman'', William Evan Fredeman, David Latham, eds, 2003, University of Toronto Press, , 9780802036629
google books
* *Ramm, John (2003). "The Forgotten Pre-Raphaelite: Henry Wallis", ''Antique Dealer & Collectors Guide'', 56 (March/April), p. 8–9


Further reading

* Andres, Sophia. (2005)
The Pre-Raphaelite Art of the Victorian Novel: Narrative Challenges to Visual Gendered Boundaries
'' Ohio State University Press, * Bate, P.H.
901 __NOTOC__ Year 901 ( CMI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * February – King Louis III (the Blind) is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by ...
(1972) ''The English Pre-Raphaelite painters : their associates and successors'', New York : AMS Press, * Daly, G. (1989) ''Pre-Raphaelites in Love'', New York : Ticknor & Fields, * des Cars, L. (2000) ''The Pre-Raphaelites : Romance and Realism'', "
Abrams Discoveries Abrams may refer to: * Abrams (surname), a list of notable people with the surname * '' Abrams v. United States'', 250 U.S. 616 (1919), U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding free speech during times of war * M1 Abrams, main battle tank * Abrams, Wi ...
" series, New York : Harry N. Abrams, * Mancoff, D.N. (2003) ''Flora symbolica : flowers in Pre-Raphaelite art'', Munich; London; New York : Prestel, * Marsh, J. and Nunn, P.G. (1998) ''Pre-Raphaelite women artists'', London : Thames & Hudson, * Sharp, Frank C and Marsh, Jan, (2012) ''The Collected Letters of Jane Morris'', Boydell & Brewer, London * Staley, A. and Newall, C. (2004) ''Pre-Raphaelite vision : truth to nature'', London : Tate, * Townsend, J., Ridge, J. and Hackney, S. (2004) ''Pre-Raphaelite painting techniques : 1848–56'', London : Tate,


External links


Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online ResourcePre-Raphaelites exhibition at Tate BritainLiverpool Walker Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite collection
Lecture by
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

The Pre-Raphaelite SocietyPre-Raphaelite online resource project
at the Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
The Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Collection of Pre-Raphaelite Art
*
Edward Burne-Jones, Victorian artist-dreamer
', full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Pre-Raphaelite murals
in the Old Library at the Oxford Union. Thi
podcast
covers their painting. Oxford Brookes University has a series of podcasts on the Pre-Raphaelites in Oxford, with dedicated to the Union murals.
Pre-Raphaelites: Born Out of Desire for Change
{{Authority control 19th-century art groups Art movements British artist groups and collectives British art Victorian culture 19th century in the arts Arts organizations established in the 1840s 1848 establishments in England 19th century in art