Pre-Raphaelites

Heather Birchall

Sometimes considered the first avant-garde art movement, the Pre-Raphaelites rejected their era’s dominant artistic theories for what they saw as a more spiritual, naturalistic and intensely personal approach. Fascinated by the romantic aspects of medieval culture and the vivid, jewel-like colors of Quattrocento art, the movement abhored the Classical poses and composition of Raphael and those influenced by him-hence the group’s name-and the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the original Pre-Raphaelites were joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner to form a seven-member brotherhood. Its influence on many later British artists was extensive, and Rossetti’s work is now seen as a precursor of the wider European Symbolist movement. This book examines the group’s emergence, development, influence, and subsequent demise.