Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
In 1848, seven young artists gathered in a house on Gower Street in London to form the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The group included William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and three others who would soon become famous names in art history. They met at the home of Millais's parents to establish their new movement. Their goal was radical: to reject the academic conventions that dominated British art at the time. They believed that the teachings of Sir Joshua Reynolds had corrupted art with "sloshy" techniques and conventional poses. Instead, they sought to return to the abundant detail and intense colors found in Italian Quattrocento art before Raphael.
The brotherhood published four core principles to guide their work. These declarations emphasized genuine ideas, attentive study of nature, sympathy for direct and heartfelt art, and the production of thoroughly good pictures. They rejected what they saw as the mechanistic approach of Mannerist artists who followed Raphael. Their methods involved painting thin glazes over wet white ground to achieve jewel-like transparency. This technique countered the muddy darkness caused by bitumen used by earlier British painters like David Wilkie. The group also formed a loose association with other artists such as Ford Madox Brown and Charles Allston Collins. They intended to keep their existence secret from members of the Royal Academy while publishing a periodical called The Germ to promote their ideas.
In 1850, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood faced fierce backlash after John Everett Millais exhibited his painting Christ in the House of His Parents. Critics like Charles Dickens condemned the work as blasphemous and ugly. Dickens claimed that Millais's depiction of Mary resembled an alcoholic slum-dweller rather than a holy figure. The painting featured Millais's sister-in-law, Mary Hodgkinson, as the model for Mary. Reviewers attacked the group's medievalism as backward-looking and their extreme devotion to detail as jarring to the eye.
The controversy led to James Collinson resigning from the brotherhood because he believed it brought disrepute to the Christian religion. The remaining members debated whether to replace him but could not reach a decision. From that point forward, the original group disbanded, though its influence continued. Artists who had worked in the style no longer signed works with "PRB" initials. Despite the public outcry, critic John Ruskin defended their work. He wrote letters to The Times praising their devotion to nature and rejection of conventional composition methods. Ruskin later met the artists and supported Hunt and Rossetti while attacking Millais's later works after a personal scandal involving Effie Gray.
By 1853, the original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood had virtually dissolved into two distinct factions. Holman Hunt remained true to the movement's stated aims, leading the realist faction alongside John Everett Millais. These artists stressed scientific aspects and accurate observations of locations like Egypt and Palestine for biblical subjects. They sought to reconcile religion and science through meticulous study of natural settings. In contrast, Dante Gabriel Rossetti led the medievalist faction with followers including Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris.
Rossetti became an inspiration for the medievalizing strand of the movement after 1856. He changed the style of the brotherhood by painting versions of femme fatales using models such as Jane Morris. His works included Proserpine, The Day Dream, and La Pia de' Tolomei. While Hunt continued emphasizing spiritual significance, Millais abandoned Pre-Raphaelitism after 1860, adopting a broader and looser style influenced by Reynolds. William Morris and others condemned this reversal of principles. The split was never absolute since both factions believed art was essentially spiritual in character. They opposed their idealism to the materialist realism associated with Courbet and Impressionism.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti's work directly influenced his friend William Morris, who joined Rossetti's firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in 1861. Through Morris's company, the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood influenced many interior designers and architects. This connection aroused interest in medieval designs and other crafts leading to the Arts and Crafts movement headed by William Morris. Ford Madox Brown and Edward Burne-Jones also became partners in the firm.
The movement extended beyond painting into design and architecture. Holman Hunt participated in reforming design through the Della Robbia Pottery company. Kelmscott Manor, the country home of William Morris from 1871 until his death in 1896, is now owned by the Society of Antiquaries of London. It appears as a background in Water Willow, a portrait of Jane Morris painted by Rossetti in 1871. Exhibitions connected with Morris and Rossetti's early experiments with photography highlight this transition from fine art to applied arts. The National Trust houses at Wightwick Manor and Wallington Hall hold significant collections representing these ideals.
Pre-Raphaelitism had a significant impact on Scottish artists during the Victorian era. William Dyce, an Aberdeen-born painter who lived from 1806 to 1864, befriended the young Pre-Raphaelites in London. He introduced their work to John Ruskin and later created paintings like The Man of Sorrows and David in the Wilderness that contained Pre-Raphaelite attention to detail. Joseph Noel Paton studied at the Royal Academy schools in London where he became a friend of Millais.
Paton subsequently followed Millais into Pre-Raphaelitism, producing pictures such as The Bludie Tryst in 1855 that stressed detail and melodrama. His later paintings have been criticized for descending into popular sentimentality. James Archer, another Scottish artist influenced by Millais, began a series of Arthurian-based paintings including La Morte d'Arthur and Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere from 1861 onward. These works included Summertime, Gloucestershire painted in 1860. The movement's influence extended across national boundaries, inspiring painters like Lawrence Alma-Tadema and contributing to the broader European Symbolist movement.
After World War I, Pre-Raphaelite art was devalued for its literary qualities and scorned by critics as sentimental and concocted "artistic bric-a-brac". This decline lasted until the 1960s when a major revival occurred. Exhibitions and catalogues culminated in an 1984 exhibition at London's Tate Gallery that re-established a canon of Pre-Raphaelite work. Another large show took place at Tate Britain between 2012 and 2013 titled Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde.
In the late 20th century, groups like the Brotherhood of Ruralists based their aims on Pre-Raphaelitism while the Stuckists and Birmingham Group derived inspiration from it. Major collections now exist in United Kingdom museums such as the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Tate Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Significant holdings also appear outside the UK including the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Delaware Art Museum in the US. Andrew Lloyd Webber is an avid collector whose selection of 300 items were shown at an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London in 2003.
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Common questions
When was the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood founded and where did they meet?
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood formed in 1848 at a house on Gower Street in London. The group met at the home of John Everett Millais's parents to establish their new movement.
What were the core principles of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood regarding art techniques?
The brotherhood published four core principles emphasizing genuine ideas, attentive study of nature, sympathy for direct and heartfelt art, and the production of thoroughly good pictures. They rejected Mannerist artists who followed Raphael and instead sought abundant detail and intense colors found in Italian Quattrocento art before Raphael.
Why did James Collinson resign from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1850?
James Collinson resigned from the brotherhood because he believed it brought disrepute to the Christian religion following the controversy over John Everett Millais's painting Christ in the House of His Parents. Critics like Charles Dickens condemned the work as blasphemous and ugly after its exhibition in 1850.
How did the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood split into factions by 1853?
By 1853, the original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood had virtually dissolved into two distinct factions led by Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Holman Hunt remained true to the movement's stated aims while Dante Gabriel Rossetti became an inspiration for the medievalizing strand of the movement after 1856.
What role did William Morris play in extending the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood?
William Morris joined Rossetti's firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in 1861 and helped extend the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood into design and architecture. This connection aroused interest in medieval designs and other crafts leading to the Arts and Crafts movement headed by William Morris.