Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

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      group of young British painters who banded together in 1848 in reaction against what they conceived to be the unimaginative and artificial historical painting of the Royal Academy and who purportedly sought to express a new moral seriousness and sincerity in their works. They were inspired by Italian art of the 14th and 15th centuries, and their adoption of the name Pre-Raphaelite expressed their admiration for what they saw as the direct and uncomplicated depiction of nature typical of Italian painting before the High Renaissance and, particularly, before the time of Raphael. Although the Brotherhood's active life lasted not quite five years, its influence on painting in Britain, and ultimately on the decorative arts and interior design, was profound.

      The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed in 1848 by three Royal Academy students: Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Rossetti, Dante Gabriel), who was a gifted poet as well as a painter, William Holman Hunt (Hunt, William Holman), and John Everett Millais (Millais, Sir John Everett, 1st Baronet), all under 25 years of age. The painter James Collinson, the painter and critic F.G. Stephens, the sculptor Thomas Woolner, and the critic William Michael Rossetti (Rossetti, William Michael) (Dante Gabriel's brother) joined them by invitation. The painters William Dyce (Dyce, William) and Ford Madox Brown (Brown, Ford Madox), who acted in part as mentors to the younger men, came to adapt their own work to the Pre-Raphaelite style.

      The Brotherhood immediately began to produce highly convincing and significant works. Their pictures of religious and medieval subjects strove to revive the deep religious feeling and naive, unadorned directness of 15th-century Florentine and Sienese painting. The style that Hunt and Millais evolved featured sharp and brilliant lighting, a clear atmosphere, and a near-photographic reproduction of minute details. They also frequently introduced a private poetic symbolism into their representations of biblical subjects and medieval literary themes. Rossetti's work differed from that of the others in its more arcane aesthetic and in the artist's general lack of interest in copying the precise appearance of objects in nature. Vitality and freshness of vision are the most admirable qualities of these early Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

      Some of the founding members exhibited their first works anonymously, signing their paintings with the monogram PRB. When their identity and youth were discovered in 1850, their work was harshly criticized by the novelist Charles Dickens (Dickens, Charles), among others, not only for its disregard of academic ideals of beauty but also for its apparent irreverence in treating religious themes with an uncompromising realism. Nevertheless, the leading art critic of the day, John Ruskin (Ruskin, John), stoutly defended Pre-Raphaelite art, and the members of the group were never without patrons.

      By 1854 the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood had gone their individual ways, but their style had a wide influence and gained many followers during the 1850s and early '60s. In the late 1850s Dante Gabriel Rossetti became associated with the younger painters Edward Burne-Jones (Burne-Jones, Sir Edward Coley, 1st Baronet) and William Morris (Morris, William) and moved closer to a sensual and almost mystical romanticism. Millais, the most technically gifted painter of the group, went on to become an academic success. Hunt alone pursued the same style throughout most of his career and remained true to Pre-Raphaelite principles. Pre-Raphaelitism in its later stage is epitomized by the paintings of Burne-Jones, characterized by a jewel-toned palette, elegantly attenuated figures, and highly imaginative subjects and settings.

Additional Reading
Tim Barringer, The Pre-Raphaelites: Reading the Image (1998; also published as Reading the Pre-Raphaelites, 1999), is a good general source. The most comprehensive study of the group is Leslie Parris (ed.), The Pre-Raphaelites (1984, reprinted 1994). Stephen Wildman, Jan Marsh, and John Christian, Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England (1995), provides a fresh look at the movement. William Michael Rossetti (ed.), Pre-Raphaelite Diaries and Letters (1900, reissued 1974), provides original writings key to understanding the formation of the movement. Another useful source for original documentation is Carolyn Hares-Stryker (ed.), An Anthology of Pre-Raphaelite Writings (1997). Specific aspects of the Pre-Raphaelites are discussed in Benedict Read and Joanna Barnes (eds.), Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture: Nature and Imagination in British Sculpture, 1848–1914 (1991); and Jan Marsh and Pamela Gerrish Nunn, Pre-Raphaelite Women Artists (1997, reissued 1999).

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  • Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood — The Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, John Everett Millais, Frederic George… …   Wikipedia

  • Pre-Raphaelite — [prē rā′fē əl īt΄, prēraf′ēəl īt΄] n. 1. a member of a society of artists (Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood) led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, W. Holman Hunt, and J. E. Millais, formed in England in 1848 to encourage painting with the fidelity to nature… …   English World dictionary

  • Pre-Raphaelite — Pre Raphaelitism, n. /pree raf ee euh luyt , ray fee /, n. 1. any of a group of English artists (Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood) formed in 1848, and including Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who aimed to revive the… …   Universalium

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  • Pre-Raphaelite — n. & adj. n. a member of a group of English 19th c. artists, including Holman Hunt, Millais, and D. G. Rossetti, emulating the work of Italian artists before the time of Raphael. adj. 1 of or relating to the Pre Raphaelites. 2 (pre Raphaelite)… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Pre-Raphaelite — /ˌpri ˈræfəlaɪt/ (say .pree rafuhluyt) adjective of, relating to, or characteristic of the Pre Raphaelites, a group of English artists (the Pre Raphaelite brotherhood), formed in 1848, and including Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante… …  

  • Pre-Raphaelite — c.1848, the brotherhood (founded 1847) of Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and others who, encouraged by Ruskin, sought to revive the naturalistic spirit of art in the age before RAPHAEL (Cf. Raphael) Sanzio (1483 1520) …   Etymology dictionary

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  • List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings — This is a list of paintings produced by members of the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood and other artists associated with the Pre Raphaelite style. The term Pre Raphaelite is used here in a loose and inclusive fashion. ophie Gengembre Anderson* The… …   Wikipedia

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