The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites »

Though always controversial in art circles, the Pre-Raphaelites have also always been extremely popular with museum goers. This accessible new study provides the most comprehensive view of the movement to date. It shows us why, a century and a half later, Pre-Raphaelite art retains its power to fascinate, haunt, and often shock its viewers.Calling themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and William Holman Hunt produced a statement of ideas that revolutionized art practice in Victorian England. Critical of the Royal Academy's formulaic works, these painters believed that painting had been misdirected since Raphael. They and the artists who joined with them, including William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, and Frederick George Stephens, created bright works representing nature and literary themes in fresh detail and color. Considered heretical by many and frequently admonished for a lack of grace in composition the group disbanded after only a few years. Yet its artists and ideals remained influential; its works, greatly admired.In this richly illustrated book, Elizabeth Prettejohn raises new and provocative questions about the group's social and artistic identity. Was it the first avant-garde movement in modern art? What role did women play in the Pre-Raphaelite fraternity? How did relationships between the artists and models affect the paintings? The author also analyzes technique, pinning down the distinctive characteristics of these painters and evaluating the degree to which a group style existed. And she considers how Pre-Raphaelite art responded to and commented on its time and place a world characterized by religious andpolitical controversy, new scientific concern for precise observation, the emergence of psychology, and changing attitudes toward sexuality and women.The first major publication on the Pre-Raphaelite movement in more than fifteen years, this exquisite volume incorporates the swell of recent research into a comprehensive, up-to-date survey. It comprises well over two hundred color reproductions, including works that are immediately recognizable as Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces, as well as lesser-known paintings that expand our appreciation of this significant artistic departure.

Houston Chronicle - Fritz Lanham

Twentieth-century critics have tended to turn up their noses at Pre-Raphaelite art, dismissing it as sentimental stuff. That attitude has begun to change, and art historian Elizabeth Prettlejohn delivers a spirited study of the aesthetics of this Victorian-era movement in The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Preface and Acknowledgments 7
Prologue 11
Part One: Stories of Pre-Raphaelitism Chapter One: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood 17
Chapter Two: Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood 67
Chapter Three: Pre-Raphaelitism 87
Part Two: Studies in Pre-Raphaelitism Chapter 4: Technique 135
Chapter Five: Pre-Raphaelite Realism: Landscape and the Human Model 165
Chapter Six: Gender and Sexuality 207
Chapter 7: Contexts for Pre-Raphaelitism 233
Epilogue 261
Abbreviations: Illustrations and Frequently Cited Sources 264
Notes 265
Glossary ofNames 278
Chronology 286
Annotated Bibliography 292
Index 300