The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was an organised group founded in September 1848, a Victorian world filled with dramatic technological and social change. The Brotherhood met for five years at 7 Gower Street, London where there is now an English Heritage blue plaque. In those short five years the movement covered developments in painting, drawing, sculpture and political theory. Pre-Raphaelitism is now recognised to be a defining phenomenon in both British & European art. The radicalism of the Pre-Raphaelites was in their refusal to accept the norm which had been set and revered by their teachers and society as a whole. They were committed to fundamental change.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-82 (20 yrs old)
William Holman Hunt,1827-1910 (21 yrs old)
Ford Madox Brown, 1821-93 (27 yrs old) never formally joined the Brotherhood but shared many of its aims and so played the role of friend and mentor to the young artists.
Even though the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood lasted in its entirety for five years it sewed the seeds for wider reform through both art and design. In the late 1850s a new group grouped around the middle aged Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The group included:
William Morris, 1831-96 (poet and designer)
Edward Burne-Jones, 1833-98 (painter)
Elizabeth Siddall, 1829-62 (painter)
Simeon Solomon, 1840-1905 (painter)
This group reached beyond the original Brotherhood's impact on painting, drawing and sculpture and moved into the design and production of furniture, textiles, ceramics, wallpapers and stained glass.
The original members lived for five more decades after forming the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Each artist explored their individual paths with new subject matter creating a visual language.
Wightwick Manor is the one of the best surviving of a house built and furnished under the influence of the Arts & Craft movement which is rooted in Pre-Raphaelitism. The Manor was built in two stages in 1887 & 1893 and designed in the old English style and filled it with William Morris & Co furnishings. His son, Geoffrey added Pre-Raphaelite paintings and sketches but in all other ways preserved a unique house with a special charm. Read my blog post about Wightwick Manor.
Desperate Romantics? The only desperate thing about the pre-Raphaelites was their truly bad art, by Germaine Greer.
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| Pic from Desperate Romantics?, The Guardian |
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Founding Members:
John Everett Millais, 1829-96 (19 yrs old)Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-82 (20 yrs old)
William Holman Hunt,1827-1910 (21 yrs old)
Ford Madox Brown, 1821-93 (27 yrs old) never formally joined the Brotherhood but shared many of its aims and so played the role of friend and mentor to the young artists.
Even though the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood lasted in its entirety for five years it sewed the seeds for wider reform through both art and design. In the late 1850s a new group grouped around the middle aged Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The group included:
William Morris, 1831-96 (poet and designer)
Edward Burne-Jones, 1833-98 (painter)
Elizabeth Siddall, 1829-62 (painter)
Simeon Solomon, 1840-1905 (painter)
This group reached beyond the original Brotherhood's impact on painting, drawing and sculpture and moved into the design and production of furniture, textiles, ceramics, wallpapers and stained glass.
The original members lived for five more decades after forming the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Each artist explored their individual paths with new subject matter creating a visual language.
Wightwick Manor is the one of the best surviving of a house built and furnished under the influence of the Arts & Craft movement which is rooted in Pre-Raphaelitism. The Manor was built in two stages in 1887 & 1893 and designed in the old English style and filled it with William Morris & Co furnishings. His son, Geoffrey added Pre-Raphaelite paintings and sketches but in all other ways preserved a unique house with a special charm. Read my blog post about Wightwick Manor.
Desperate Romantics? The only desperate thing about the pre-Raphaelites was their truly bad art, by Germaine Greer.
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