The Pre-Raphaelites

an introduction

It all began in the first half of the 19th century.

There were in the 1830s and '40s a growing enthusiasm for and interest in Gothic architecture, medieval literature and pre-Renaissance paintings.

British art at that time was dominated by the Royal Academy, whose style tended towards that of the Old Masters; the dark and gloomy with lots of brownish paint.

English art were already influenced by the German Nazarene Movement, whose principles were accuracy, a new look at the medieval past and an intensity of feeling, both human literary and religious. This movement also influenced the PRB.

In 1848 the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in London. The founding members included the young painters Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holdman Hunt and John Everet Millais.

The PRB rebelled against the established view of art, wanting to free art from the stranglehold of the Academy. The earliest works of the PRB were only signed with the group's initials.
They published a manifesto of their intentions, which were objective truthfulness - painting direct from nature - and ideas which were genuine and heartfelt.

Their inspiration was the paintings before Raphael (1483-1520), and in the works of Romantic poets like Keats, Byron and Shelley; their vision was therefore a late flowering of the Romantic Movement. The world of medieval romance was also a great inspiration (as it had itself been to the Romantic Movement).

The Pre-Raphaelite's passion can be seen most clearly in their adoration and worship of female beauty. There was almost an obsession with the favourite models, who were painted repeatedly - like Jane Burden, Elizabeth Siddal and Euphemia (Effie) Ruskin.

The PRB was dissolved during 1853. Though short-lived in had real impact on British art, and the movement continued with painters like Eward Burne-Jones, Henry Wallis, John William Waterhouse, Frederick Leighton and Evelyn De Morgan.

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