Seven rebellious young artists in London was formed at the same date of the realisms which they called themselves Pre Raphaelite brotherhood. They went against the contemporary academic painting, they decided to overturn British art. The Brotherhood instead imitated the art of late medieval and early Renaissance until the time of Raphael.
The art characteristics were detailed in form, using bright colours that recalls the tempera paint used by the medieval artists, subject matter of a noble, religious or the moralizing nature composition.
The brotherhood wanted to transmit a message of artistic renewal and moral reform by getting inspired with feelings in their art with seriousness, sincerity and truth to nature.
Note: ''The Pre Raphaelite group was interested in literature and poetry as much as the visual art from the very start.''
Prof PretteJohn, E., 2013. 1/2 The Pre Raphaelites (Ep1) [Youtube] 29 July. Available at:<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMQmccid3Y> [Accessed 27 February 2014]
The subjects they treated were varied.
Contemporary social issues:
- Emigration
- Prostitution
- Religious reform
They drew inspirations from literacy sources that gave them moral themes or stories, such as in this Ophelia by Millais.
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| Ophelia |
Description:
Ophelia is a painting by John Everett Millais in 1852. The scene was depicted from Shakespear's 'Hamlet', Act IV, Scene vii, (as Shakespear was a favourite source for Victorian) Ophelia driven out of her mind when her father is murdered by her lover Hamlet, drowns herself in a stream.
The medium used in this painting was oil paint on canvas, 762 x 1118 mm.
This painting is known for being the perfect contrast between ''Love'' and ''Death''. It illustrates the moment when Ophelia floats on the water just after killing her self to death. She is showing her pathetic and tragic death when she's singing songs, gathering flowers and slips into a book. This painting with small dimensions could inspire painters but poets too.
- Ophelia is showing her process of drowning.
- All the attention has been suspended on the natural white daisy flowers, he included a lot of flowers to relate symbolically the plight of Ophelia.
- It is very accurate and precise on the way how he painted the bark and branches, the leaves and all the plants surrounded her.
- She is dying in a very natural way.
- The scene looks calm with the environment surrounded.
Wilson, S., 1991. Tate Gallery:An Illustrated Companion, Tate Gallery, London revised edition 1991, p.83. [Image Online] Available at: <http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506> [Accessed 27 February 2014]
The first canvas of William Holman Hunt was 'Rienzi'. This was an interpretation of the themes and was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1849.
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| Rienzi |
"Rienzi Vowing to Obtain Justice for the Death of his Young Brother, Slain in a Skirmish between the Colonna and Orsini Factions, 1849-49 (oil on canvas)" by William Holman Hunt; Original size (cm): 86.3x122; Location: Private Collection; Medium: oil on canvas
Rienzi
Rienzi modelled by Rosetti and to his right (as the kneeling night) is Millais. The first of Hunt's pictures include the famous Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood monogram. The subject is taken from Bulwer Lytton's (the first Baron -an English novelist, poet, playwriter and politician) Rienzi, 'the last of the Roman tribunes'. The background was carefully painted to fall in with Ruskin's ideas. The soldiers on the far left are showing natural poses, which shows Hunt's inability in his painting.
In 1849 Dante Gabriel Rossetti also exhibited his first important painting 'The Girlhood of Mary Virgin' and 'Ecce Ancilla Domini'. At about the same time he met Elizabeth Elianora Siddal, who was a milliner's assistant, who became a model of his paintings and sketches. They were engagged in 1851, but did not get married until 1860.
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| The Girlhood of Mary Virgin |
The Girlhood of Mary virgin
The virgin Mary is shown as a young girl, working embroidery with her mother, St. Anne. Her father, St Joachim is trimming or cutting the vines. The picture is full of symbolic details. The palm branch and the thorny briar rose on the wall mention the Christs passion. The dove represents the Holy Spirit. This was Rosetti's first completed painting and the first picture to be exhibited with the initials, for Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, inscribed on it.
Tate Britain, 2007. The girlhood of Mary Virgin 1848-9 [Image online] Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/rossetti-the-girlhood-of-mary-virgin-n04872> [Accessed: 27 February 2014]
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| Ecce Ancilla Domini |
Ecce Ancilla Domini
This painting depicts a real moment of the annunciation of Mary. When Rosetti was making this painting he started off with the white ground, this was considered revolutionary because the art wounds of the time used dark tone and dark brown.
It took him five months to complete because the brushes were so fine, Rosetti also used his colours so odd because he wanted to use the purest and the brightest pigment, you can see it from the lily which the angel is holding, he used a lot of white. The lily symbolizes the purity because of its whiteness and is repeated on the embroidery at the side of the bed.The angel is also pointing the stem of the lily to the woman.
The angel doesn't have the traditional wings due to Rosetti is trying to portrait the realism.The painting is putting a sense of reality, it seems like the lady is scared and worried about what the angel is trying to tell her. The feeling of fear definitely ties with the idea of the realism as it seems like it is emphasized in this painting .
Jarek, 2011.Dante Gabriel Rossetti- Ecce Ancilla Domini C.1850 [Image online] website: <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Ecce_Ancilla_Domini!_-_WGA20105.jpg> [Accessed: 27 February 2014]
Rossetti's early works have medieval themes such as this First Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice.
Later he turned to representations of female beauty.
Rosetti was an important figure in the movement. The idea of the movement was his and he kept the
group alive by promoting its second generation of artists.
Edward Burne-Jones -Symbolist Movement
William Morris that is another important figure in -Arts and Crafts Movement.
Howard David Johnson -Twenty first Century
Sources:
- Meagher, J., 2013. 'The Pre Raphaelites' Heilbrunn Timeline Of Art. [Online] Available at: <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/praf/hd_praf.htm> [Accessed 27 February 2014]
- Art Magick, 1996-2014. Biography of W.H.Hunt [Online] Available at: <http://www.artmagick.com/pictures/artist.aspx?artist=william-holman-hunt> [Accessed 27 February 2014]
- Hermes, 2009. The Pre Raphaelite Art, William Holman Hunt- Rienzi blog, [blog] 24 August, Available at: <http://blog.ac-rouen.fr/lyc-senghor-le-petit-prince/2012/05/24/an-analysis-of-millais%E2%80%99s-ophelia-2/> [Accessed: 27 February 2014]
- Andrews, 2012. An analysis of Millais’s Ophelia. [Online] Available at: <http://blog.ac-rouen.fr/lyc-senghor-le-petit-prince/2012/05/24/an-analysis-of-millais%E2%80%99s-ophelia-2/> [Accessed: 27 February 2014]
- Art Documentaries, 2013. 1/2 The Pre- Raphaelites (Ep1). 29 July [Video Online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMQmccid3Y> [Accessed: 27 February 2014].
- Art Documentaries, 2013. 2/2 The Pre- Raphaelites (Ep1). 29 July [Video Online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTWG9Nkz6pU> [Accessed: 27 February 2014].
- Art Documentaries, 2013. 1/2 The Pre- Raphaelites (Ep2). 29 July [Video Online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb79bmJhhaI> [Accessed: 27 February 2014].
- Art Documentaries, 2013. 2/2 The Pre- Raphaelites (Ep2). 29 July [Video Online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8LCUxu9m1k> [Accessed: 27 February 2014].
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