Pre-Raphaelitism is a purely English phenomenon. It manifested itself and developed in English poetry and painting in the second half of the 19th century.

The Pre-Raphaelites believed that modern English painting was in decline. In order to prevent its complete dying and revive it, it is necessary to return to the simplicity and sincerity that distinguished early Italian art.

Meaning of the term

The term "Pre-Raphaelites" literally means "before Raphael", and this is the era of the Early Renaissance. Representatives of the era "before Raphael" (XV-XVI centuries) in painting were Perugino, Fra Angelico, Giovanni Bellini. But the Pre-Raphaelites themselves lived much later, in the 19th century. The fact is that the name "Pre-Raphaelites" meant spiritual kinship with the Florentine artists of the Early Renaissance, they desired this and aspired to this.

Goals of the Pre-Raphaelites

The main goal of the Pre-Raphaelites was: to break with academic tradition and blind imitation of the classics. This is reminiscent of the goal of our Wanderers, who were not satisfied with the conservative views and approaches to creativity that operated at the Imperial Academy of Arts. The similarity with the Wanderers, who were called "rebels", lies in the fact that the painting by John Everett Millais "Christ in the parental home" (1850) was also called "revolt in art" for excessive realism.
Let's look at this picture.

John Everett Millais, Christ in the Home of His Parents (1850). Canvas, oil. 83.3 x 139.7 cm. Tate Gallery (London)
The painting depicts an episode from the childhood of Jesus Christ: in the foreground of the painting, the Mother of God kneels, looking at the Son with compassion and pain. The boy, complaining, shows her the wound on his arm. Probably, He was hurt by a nail, which Saint Anna pulls out of the table with tongs. At the table, Joseph and his assistants are busy with work. Young John the Baptist brings a bowl of water to Christ. Fresh shavings are scattered on the floor of the workshop, sheep are visible in the paddock behind the door.
This painting is not only simple and realistic, but also full of symbols. The wound in the palm of little Jesus, a drop of blood on his foot and nails symbolize the Crucifixion, a bowl of water - the Baptism of Christ, a dove on the stairs - the Holy Spirit, a triangle on the wall - the Trinity, sheep - an innocent sacrifice.
Why is this picture called "revolt in art"? First, the biblical story is depicted here as a scene from real life. Secondly, the Holy Family is depicted as ordinary people, without an elevated halo, during ordinary earthly labor. Thirdly, Jesus was portrayed as an ordinary village boy.
Criticism sharply negatively responded to this work, and Charles Dickens even called the picture "low, vile, disgusting and repulsive."

And only only John Ruskin(English writer, artist, art theorist, literary critic and poet) spoke positively about her and in general about the work of the Pre-Raphaelites. Since that time, cooperation between the critic and the Pre-Raphaelites began.
The development of British art was determined by the activities of the Royal Academy of Arts (as in Russia, the Imperial Academy of Arts). The traditions of academism were preserved in it with great care. Pre-Raphaelite artists declared that they did not want to depict people and nature as abstractly beautiful, and events far from reality, that they were tired of depicting mythological, historical and religious subjects in their paintings. The Pre-Raphaelites believed that everything must be written from nature. They chose friends or relatives as models. For example, in the painting "Youth of the Virgin Mary" Rossetti depicted his mother and sister Christina.

D. Rossetti "Youth of the Virgin Mary" (1848-1849). Tate Gallery (London)
Rossetti could draw a queen from a saleswoman, a goddess from a groom's daughter. Model artists have become equal partners.
The Pre-Raphaelites wanted to return to the high detail and deep colors of the painters of the Quattrocento era (the designation of the era of Italian art of the 15th century, correlated with the Early Renaissance period). They left the "cabinet" painting and began to paint in nature, made changes to the traditional painting technique - they painted over white, which served as a primer, with translucent paints, removing oil with blotting paper. This technique made it possible to achieve bright colors and proved to be very durable - their works have been preserved in their original form to this day.
But contemporaries did not understand this and continued to criticize the work of the Pre-Raphaelites. D. Rossetti's painting "The Annunciation" was also attacked.

D. Rossetti "Annunciation" (1850). Canvas, oil. 73 x 41.9 cm. Tate Gallery (London)
The painting depicts a well-known gospel scene: “In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to the Virgin, betrothed to a husband named Joseph, from the house of David; the name of the Virgin: Mary. The angel, having entered to Her, said: Rejoice, Blessed One! The Lord is with you; blessed are you among women. She, seeing him, was embarrassed by his words and wondered what kind of greeting it would be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for you have found grace with God; and behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb, and thou shalt bear a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus” (Gospel of Luke; 1:26-31).
Rossetti departed from the Christian canon and thereby attracted the strongest criticism. The Mother of God on his canvas looks frightened, as if she recoiled from an angel with a white lily in her hands (a symbol of Mary's virginity). The picture is dominated by white, and the color of the Virgin is considered blue.

"Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood"

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a secret society. At first, the society consisted of 7 "brothers": John Everett Millais, Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his younger brother Michael Rossetti, Thomas Woolner, Frederick Stevens and James Collinson. All of them were in opposition to official artistic movements.
In 1853, the "Brotherhood" actually breaks up, but in 1856 a new stage in the development of the Pre-Raphaelite movement begins. But their main idea is aestheticism, stylization of forms, eroticism, the cult of beauty and artistic genius. At first, the leader of the movement was the same Rossetti, who, as one of the artists wrote, “was the planet around which we revolved. We even copied his manner of speaking.” Gradually, the leadership passed to Edward Burne-Jones, whose works are made in the style of the early Pre-Raphaelites. In 1889, at the World Exhibition in Paris, he received the Order of the Legion of Honor for the painting "King Cofetua and the Beggar Woman".

Edward Burne-Jones "King Cofetua and the Beggar Woman" (1884). Canvas, oil. 293.4 x 135.9 cm. Tate Gallery (London)
The plot of the picture is based on a legend. King Cofetua was not interested in women until one day he met a pale, barefoot beggar girl. She turned out to be very beautiful, and most importantly - virtuous. The king fell in love with her and the beggar woman became queen.
This legend is mentioned in other works, including Shakespeare's plays.
In essence, the plot of this picture is one of the "eternal themes" - the admiration of a beautiful lady, the search for beauty and perfect love.
At this time, Pre-Raphaelism had already ceased to be criticized, it penetrated into all aspects of life: furniture, decorative art, architecture, interior decoration, book design, illustrations.
Of particular note is the creation by the Pre-Raphaelites of a new female image in art.

A new type of female beauty

Among the Pre-Raphaelites, this is a detached, calm, mysterious image, which Art Nouveau artists would later develop. The women in the Pre-Raphaelite paintings are reminiscent of the medieval image of ideal beauty and femininity, which is admired and worshipped. But a mystical, destructive beauty is also shown. For example, the painting by John William Waterhouse "The Lady of Shallot" (1888).

John William Waterhouse, The Lady of Shallot (1888). Canvas, oil. 200 x 153 cm. Tate Gallery (London)
The picture is dedicated to the poem of the same name by Alfred Tennyson "The Sorceress Shalot" (translated by K. Balmont).
The poem tells the story of a girl named Elaine, who is cursed to stay in a tower on Shallot and forever weave a long cloth. Shallot is located on the river flowing to Camelot. No one knows about Elaine's existence, because the curse forbids her from leaving the tower and even looking out of the window. She has a huge mirror hanging in her room, which reflects the world around her, and the girl is engaged in weaving a tapestry, depicting on it the wonders of the world that she managed to see. Gradually, the world captures her more and more, and sitting alone in the tower becomes unbearable. One day she sees in the mirror how Sir Lancelot rides to Camelot, and leaves the room to look at him from the window. At that very moment, the curse is fulfilled, the tapestry is untangled, and the mirror is cracked. Elaine flees the tower, finds a boat and writes her name on it. She swims along the river and sings a sad song, but dies before reaching Camelot. She is found by the inhabitants, Lancelot is struck by her beauty.
Waterhouse portrays the Lady of Shallot at the moment when she is already sitting in the boat and holding the chain in her hands, which fastens the boat to the shore. Nearby lies a tapestry that she wove. It is now forgotten, partially submerged in water. Candles and a crucifix make the boat look like a funeral boat. The girl sings a farewell song.
The Pre-Raphaelites were attracted by spiritual purity and tragic love, unrequited love, an unattainable girl, a woman dying for love, marked by shame or a curse, as well as a dead woman of extraordinary beauty. August Egg created a series of paintings "Past and Present", which shows how the family hearth is destroyed as a result of the adultery of the mother. The woman lies on the floor, her face buried in the carpet, in a pose of desperation, and the bracelets on her hands resemble handcuffs. The eldest girl carefully listens to what is happening in the room - she already understands that a misfortune has happened in the family. The man is in despair.

The first painting in the Past and Present series by August Egg (1837). London
The Pre-Raphaelites tried to write out the landscape with maximum reliability.

D. Millet "Autumn Leaves" (1856)
D. Ruskin said about this picture: “For the first time, twilight is depicted so perfectly.”
Painters made sketches of tones from nature, reproducing them as brightly and distinctly as possible, so the Pre-Raphaelite landscape was not widely used, and then it was replaced by impressionism.

Pre-Raphaelite poetry

Many of the Pre-Raphaelite artists were also poets. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his sister Christina Rossetti, George Meredith, William Morris and Algernon Swinburne left a significant mark on English literature. Rossetti was fascinated by the poetry of the Italian Renaissance, especially the works of Dante. Rossetti created the cycle of sonnets "House of Life", which is the pinnacle of his work.
It was under the influence of Pre-Raphaelite poetry that the British decadence of the 1880s developed. Its most famous representative is Oscar Wilde.
Poet Algernon Swinburne experimented in versification, was a playwright and literary critic.

The value of the work of the Pre-Raphaelites

This artistic direction is known and popular in the UK. But it was distinguished by refined aristocracy, retrospectism (turning to the art of the past) and contemplation, so its impact on the broad masses was insignificant. Although the Pre-Raphaelites turned to the past, they contributed to the establishment of the Art Nouveau style in the visual arts, they are even considered the forerunners of the Symbolists. Especially the poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites influenced the work of the French symbolists Verlaine and Mallarmé. It is believed that Burne-Jones' painting greatly influenced the young Tolkien.
In Russia, the first exhibition of works by the Pre-Raphaelites was held May 14-18, 2008 at the Tretyakov Gallery.

Pre-Raphaelite artists (from Latin prae - forward, and the name "Raphael"), these are representatives of the direction in English poetry and painting of the mid-19th century, formed to combat established academic traditions, conventions and imitation of classical models. The main representatives of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood - William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) and John Everett Millais (1829-1896) - considered admirable the paintings of early Renaissance artists who worked before Raphael. The Pre-Raphaelites considered Perugino, Fra Angelico and Giovanni Bellini worthy of imitation.

Pre-Raphaelite artists against academicism

In the middle of the 19th century, the academic school in English painting was the leading one. In a developed industrial society, a high level of performance technique was perceived as a guarantee of quality. Therefore, the work of the students of the academy was quite successful and in demand by the English society. But, the stability of English painting has already grown into rigidity, bogged down in conventions and repetitions. And the summer exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts every year became more and more predictable. The Royal Academy of Arts preserved the traditions of academicism and treated innovations with great caution and skepticism. Pre-Raphaelite artists did not want to depict nature and people as abstractly beautiful, they wanted to depict them truthfully and simply, believing that the only way to prevent the degradation of English painting was to return to the simplicity and sincerity of the art of the early Renaissance.

What did the Pre-Raphaelites particularly dislike?

• erroneous standards of academic education
• the first president of the Academy of Arts, Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)
• painting by Raphael "Transfiguration"
• creativity P.P. Rubens

In Raphael's painting "Transfiguration", the Pre-Raphaelites saw a neglect of simplicity and truth. According to W. H. Hunt, the robes of the apostles were too pompous, and the image of the Savior was devoid of spirituality.

D. G. Rosseti, hating the work of Rubens with all his heart, managed to write “Spit here” on the pages of his work on art history, opposite each mention and the last one.

Rafael Santi. Transfiguration

P.P. Rubens. Drunk Hercules

Sir Joshua Reynolds. self-portrait

Creative and artistic techniques of the Pre-Raphaelites

• Bright, fresh colors

To achieve brighter and fresher tones, the Pre-Raphaelite artists used a new painting technique. They painted in oil on damp white ground or on a layer of whitewash. In addition to the brightness of the colors, the chosen technique made it possible to make the works of the artists even more durable - the works of the Pre-Raphaelites have survived in their original form to this day.

• pure paints
• Reliable display of nature

Abandoning "cabinet painting", young artists began to paint in nature and attached great importance to fine detail.

“I want to paint a landscape, depicting every detail that I can see” (W. Hunt)

• Orientation towards the art of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance
• Use as models of relatives, friends and people from the street, and not professional sitters.

Fanny Cornforth, an illiterate girl, posed for the famous painting by Dante Rossetti “Lady Lilith”. The painting "Youth of the Virgin Mary" depicts the mother and sister of the artist Dante Rossetti. For the painting "Ophelia" the artist D.E. Millet chose a moment in Shakespeare's tragedy when Ophelia threw herself into the river, slowly sank into the water and sang fragments of songs. First, the artist painted a picturesque river corner, and he painted the figure of a girl already in the winter months. Elisabeth Siddal, in a sumptuous vintage dress, spent many hours in a bath of warm water. At one point, the lamps heated by the water went out, but the girl began to complain and became seriously ill. Subsequently, the father of Elizabeth Siddal sent the artist an invoice to pay for the treatment of his daughter.

• Symbolism

Pre-Raphaelite paintings are characterized by many details endowed with a certain meaning or symbol. For example, in the picture D.E. Millet "Ophelia" depicts many flowers. Daisies symbolize pain, chastity and deceived love, ivy is a sign of immortality and eternal rebirth, willow is a symbol of rejected love, poppies are a traditional symbol of death.

Dante Rossetti. Lady Lilith

D.G. Rossetti. Youth of the Virgin Mary

D.E. Millais. Ophelia

Pre-Raphaelite artists. Main plots and famous paintings.

If you look at the work of the Pre-Raphaelites superficially, then the first thing that seems to us when they are mentioned is the tragic figures of red-haired women embodying the images of famous literary heroines. But the true source for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was the rebellion against aesthetic conventions and the desire to portray reality truthfully and accurately.

The main themes of the work of the Pre-Raphaelites:

• medievalism (history of the Middle Ages), King Arthur
• cult of feminine beauty
• creativity of Shakespeare
• art by Dante Alighieri
• Jesus Christ
• social problems

Medievalism, King Arthur in the works of the Pre-Raphaelites

The works of the Pre-Raphaelites are filled with spiritual symbolism, referring us to the ideals of chivalry, Christian virtues and exploits. Against the background of the moral decline that prevailed in England in the middle of the XIX century, these paintings looked idyllic. But it was knightly plots and images, according to the artists of the Brotherhood, that had to overcome the decline and solve the social problems of England.

The stories about King Arthur were especially popular. Materials about King Arthur were found in abundance by the Pre-Raphaelites in the poetry of A. Tennyson. The favorite characters in the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites were Galahad and Elaine, Lancelot and Guinevere, Arthur, Merlin and the Lady of the Lake.

D.G. Rossetti. Virgin of the Holy Grail. 1874

E. Coley Burne-Jones. Enchanted Merlin. 1877

D. W. Waterhouse. Lady of Shallot, 1888

The work of Shakespeare and Dante Alighieri in the paintings of Pre-Raphaelite artists

To understand the meaning of some Pre-Raphaelite paintings, it is necessary to refer to their literary basis. Referring to the text will allow to more fully reveal the features and patterns of the embodiment of a particular image.

The Pre-Raphaelites wanted to raise painting to the level of literature and poetry and introduce an intellectual principle into fine art.

Pre-Raphaelite artists in their work very often turned to literary and historical subjects. And the work of Shakespeare and Dante, in whose literary works the drama of human relations is so vividly shown, occupies a special place in their painting. The creators tried to depict the scene as accurately as possible from a historical point of view. In order to create as natural a composition as possible around the main scene, they carefully wrote out the background, filling it with interior or landscape details. Filling the picture with the heroes of the plot, they carefully studied the samples of costumes and ornaments in historical reference books. But, despite such pedantry to the depiction of external details, human relations have always remained the center of the composition.

D. W. Waterhouse. Miranda and the Storm

F.M. Brown. Romeo and Juliet. The famous balcony scene

D.G. Rossetti. Visions of Dante

D.G. Rossetti. Love Dante

D.G. Rosstetti. Blessed Beatrice. 1864-1870

Religious and social subjects in the works of the Pre-Raphaelites.

The "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" sought to resurrect the traditions of religious painting without referring to the conventional images of the Catholic altar painting. However, young artists did not seek to emphasize theological truths on their canvases. They approached the Bible as a source of human dramas. These works, of course, were not intended for the decoration of churches and were more literary and poetic than religious.

Over time, the work of young reformers began to be reproached for too free interpretations of religious subjects. Millet's painting "Christ in the Parents' House" depicts an ascetic setting in the carpenter's house. In the background are grazing sheep. The Savior hurt his palm with a nail, and the Mother of God consoles him. The canvas is filled with many meanings: sheep are an innocent victim, a bleeding hand is a sign of a future crucifixion, a bowl of water carried by John the Baptist is a symbol of the Baptism of the Lord. For the fact that the Holy Family is depicted on Milles' canvas "Christ in the parental home" in the form of ordinary people, critics called this painting "The Carpenter's Workshop". Queen Victoria wanted to see for herself that there was no blasphemy in the painting and asked that the painting be delivered to her. The artist decided to rename the painting just in case.

Depicting the life of ordinary people on their canvases, the Pre-Raphaelites revealed the moral and ethical problems of modern society. Often social subjects in Pre-Raphaelite paintings take the form of religious parables.

D.W. Waterhouse. Fate. 1900

The cult of female beauty on the canvases of the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood"

On the canvases of the Pre-Raphaelites, female images received a new development. Femininity was seen as an indivisible combination of physicality, attractiveness, symbolism and spirituality at the same time. A feature in the depiction of women was the simultaneous combination of realism and fantasy of the image. On the canvases of young artists, the literary images of Shakespeare, Keats, Chatterton and others took on physicality without losing their mystery. The Pre-Raphaelites wanted to make available to the eye the image of a woman that romantic literature tells about.

D.G. Rossetti. Proserpina

D.W. Waterhouse. Pluck roses quickly. 1909

W. Hunt. Isabella and the Pot of Basil 1868

Pre-Raphaelites and John Ruskin

The pioneer and associate for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was the prominent and significant art theorist John Ruskin. At that moment, when an avalanche of criticism fell upon young artists, he supported the artists both morally - by writing an article in defense of a new direction in painting, and financially - by buying several Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

Everyone reckoned with the opinion of John Ruskin, so very soon the paintings of talented young people become popular. What did the venerable art theorist find so special in these paintings? On the canvases of the Pre-Raphaelites, John Ruskin saw a living and creative embodiment of those ideas about which he wrote so much in his writings:

• penetration into the essence of nature
• attention to detail
• rejection of imposed conventions and canons
• idealization of the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance

The famous critic wrote several articles for The Times, where he praised the work of artists. Ruskin published a pamphlet about these masters, which was a turning point in their lives. At the academic exhibition of 1852, Hunt's "The Hired Shepherd" and Millais's "Ophelia" were received favorably.

Pre-Raphaelites. Arts and Crafts Movement. Modern style

Each Pre-Raphaelite artist was looking for his own creative path, and love for the Middle Ages was no longer enough to keep the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood together. The final discord occurred in 1853, when Millais became a member of the Royal Academy, which the Pre-Raphaelites opposed so fiercely.

In 1856, Rossetti met with William Morris, the leader of the Arts and Crafts movement, who later influenced the formation. W. Morris, together with Edward Burne-Jones, became students of Rossetti. From this moment, a new stage of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood begins, the main idea now becomes the aestheticization of forms, eroticism, the cult of beauty and artistic genius.

Rossetti's mental and physical health is gradually deteriorating and Edward Burne-Jones is now becoming the leader of the movement. Creating works in the spirit of the early Pre-Raphaelites, he becomes extremely popular.

William Morris becomes a central figure in the decorative arts of the 19th century, and the Art Nouveau style, one of the sources of which was Pre-Raphaelitism, penetrates not only into the decorative arts, but also into furniture, interior decoration, architecture, and book design.

Pre-Raphaelite artists. Main Representatives

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

He was born into a petty-bourgeois family of intellectuals on May 12, 1828. The year 1848 was significant for the artist, since at the exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts he met William Holmen Hunt. Joint creativity led to the creation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
He married the muse and popular Pre-Raphaelite model Elizabeth Siddal. In the period 1854-1862 he was a teacher at the first municipal educational institution where the lower classes studied. In 1881, the artist's health deteriorated. The resort of Burchington-on-Sea became the last refuge of the artist. Death opened its arms to him on April 9, 1882.

Style features

Characteristic features of the style of Gabriel Rossetti was a multifaceted perspective and a detailed study of each part of the picture. In the works of the author, spirituality and the greatness of man come to the fore.

Main paintings

"Youth of the Virgin Mary";
"Annunciation";
"Inscriptions in the sand";
Sir Galahad at the Ruined Chapel;
"Love Dante";
"Blessed Beatrice";
"Monna Vanna";
"Pia de Tolomei";
"Vision of Fiammetta";
"Pandora";
"Proserpina".

D.G. Rossetti. Venus Verticordia

D.G. Rosstetti. Beatrice blessed

D.G. Rossetti. King Arthur's tomb

William Holman Hunt

W.H. Hunt self-portrait, 1867

One of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He differed from other artists of the community in his religiosity. From birth, he had the name William Hobman Hunt, later he independently replaced it with a pseudonym. The painting “The Light of the World” brought fame to the artist.

He wrote an autobiographical work "Pre-Raphaelitism", the purpose of which was to leave accurate data on the founding of the Brotherhood. He married Fanny Waugh, after whose death he remarried her sister Edith Alice. This union brought him disapproval from society.

Style features

The surrounding world is immersed in picturesque nature, all the details of which are aimed at enhancing the internal state of the image. A feature of Holman Hunt's work was soft transitions of halftones and rich combinations of colors.

Main paintings

• "Light of the World";
• "The Lady of Shalott";
• "Claudio and Isabella";
• The Festival of St. Swithin;
• "The descent of the blessed fire";
• "Scapegoat";
• "The shadow of death";
• "Knock".

W. H. Hunt. Scapegoat. 1856

W. H. Hunt. Knock

W.H. Hunt. The shadow of death

John Everett Millais

D.E. Millais. self-portrait

At the age of eleven he entered the Royal Academy of Arts (1840). It is considered the youngest student in the history of the institution. By the age of fifteen, he showed special skills in working with a brush. His work in the academic style "Pizarro Capturing the Peruvian Incas" was honored to be exhibited at the summer academic exhibition of 1846.

For the work "The attack of the tribe of Benjamin on the daughters of Siloam" he was awarded a gold medal in 1847. After meeting Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Hlman Hunt, he joined the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The work that made him famous was the painting “Ophelia”, the model for which was the muse of the Pre-Raphaelites and the future wife of D.G. Rossetti Elizabeth Siddal.

In 1855, John Everett Millais married John Ruskin's ex-wife Effie, immediately after her high-profile divorce proceedings with the latter. Since that time, he completely departs from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and creates popular paintings in an academic style. In 1896 he was elected President of the Royal Academy of Arts, the struggle against the basic principles of which was one of the unifying principles for the Pre-Raphaelite artists.

Style features

The pronounced features of the style are the inheritance of Raphael's technique. Perspective is based on the play of light and shadow. The artist used a muted palette, highlighting the accents with bright details and creating an atmosphere of action.

Main paintings

• "Pizarro captures the Peruvian Incas";
• "The attack of the tribe of Benjamin on the daughters of Siloam";
• "Ophelia";
• Cherry Ripe;
• "The Death of Romeo and Juliet".

D.E. Millais. Ophelia

D. E. Millais. Christ in the parental home

D.E. Millais. Pizarro captures the Peruvian Incas

Madox Brown

A prominent representative of Pre-Raphaelism, but was not a member of the brotherhood. He supported the ideas of Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris. Together with the latter, he was involved in the design of stained-glass windows.

He studied at the Academy of Arts (Bruges). He later moved to Ghent, then to Antwerp. Fame brought the painting "The Execution of Mary of Scotland", written in 1840. He relied on the romantic direction of the artists of the Early Renaissance. Most of the stories he devoted to religious and spiritual themes.

Style features

In the works, the artist sought to achieve a clear description of the plot, the transmission of the truth of life. Reproduction of the drama of events is achieved by contrasts of colors, expressiveness of poses.

Main paintings

• "Execution of Mary of Scotland";
• "Christ washing the feet of the Apostle Peter";
• "Farewell to England";
• "The Death of Sir Tristram".

F.M. Brown. Romeo and Juliet. The famous balcony scene

F.M. Brown. Farewell to England

F.M. Brown. Work

Edward Burne-Jones

Illustrator and painter, close in spirit of the plot and presentation to the Pre-Raphaelites. Known for his work on stained glass windows. He received his early education at King Edward's School.

Since 1848, he entered the evening courses of the government school of design for additional training. He met William Maurice at Oxford University (1853). Inspired by the ideas of the Brotherhood, he abandoned the theological direction and engaged in an in-depth study of drawing techniques. He devoted his works to the romantic legends of England.

Style features

The artist preferred to focus on the naked male body. Giving perspective through the color scheme creates a sense of flatness. The contrasting play of chiaroscuro is completely absent. The emphasis is on the line, the favorite colors are the golden and orange spectrum.

Main paintings

• "Annunciation";
• "Enchanted Merlin";
• "Golden Staircase";
• "Book of Flowers";
• "Love in the Ruins"

E. Burne-Jones. Love among the ruins.

E. Coley Burne-Jones. King Cofetua and a beggar woman. 1884

Burne Jones. Enchanted Merlin

William Morris

W. Morris. self-portrait

English prose writer, painter, poet and socialist. Considered the largest representative of the second generation of Pre-Raphaelites, the recognized unofficial leader of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
A wealthy family was able to give the artist a good education. On the basis of his passion for the Middle Ages and the Tractarian movement, he became friends with Edward Burne-Jones.
The main storylines in the paintings of W. Morris were the legend of King Arthur. The collection The Defense of Guinevere and Other Poems, published in 1858, was devoted to this idea.
Since 1859 he lived in an official marriage with Jane Burden. She became his model for many paintings.

The Pre-Raphaelites are the English artists William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), John Evret Millet (1829-96), the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82), who united in 1848 in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

It also included art critics - Dante Gabriel's brother - William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919) and Frederick George Stephens (1828-1907), poet and sculptor Thomas Uvulner (1825-92), artist James Collinson (18257-81).

Aesthetic principles of the Pre-Raphaelites

The initials "PB" (Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) first appeared on a painting by Hunt at the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition in 1849.

The aesthetic principles of the Pre-Raphaelites are a romantic protest against the cold academicism that dominated English painting of that time.

Their ideal of art is the work of the masters of the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance (i.e., the “pre-Raphael” period) - Giotto, Fra Angelico, S. Botticelli, which attracted them as an example of a naive, direct relationship of man to nature.

The Pre-Raphaelites called for depicting nature in its diversity, using the full range of colors, in contrast to the pale greens and browns of academic artists who never left the studio. The religious spirit of pre-Raphaelite painting by the Pre-Raphaelites was opposed to individualism, godlessness of the artists of the high Renaissance and modern materialism. In this regard, they were influenced by the Oxford Movement. The moral principle approved by the Pre-Raphaelites found expression in religious themes, in symbolic and mystical iconography.

Pre-Raphaelite Inspiring Authors

Favorite authors who inspired the Pre-Raphaelites - Dante, T. Malory, W. Shakespeare, romantic poets W. Blake, J. Keats, P. B. Shelley, perceived as aesthetes and mystics, A. Tennyson with his medieval plots and the theme of the struggle of the spiritual and sensual beginnings, and especially R. Browning with his interest in Italy, the exaltation of pre-Raphaelian art, with sharp psychological plots.

The Pre-Raphaelites were perceived in 1848-49 as dangerous, impudent revolutionaries and were sharply criticized. The art theorist John Ruskin (1819-1900), who became a friend of D. G. Rossetti, spoke in their defense. In open letters published in 1851 and 1854 in The Times, he defended them against accusations of artificial resurrection of primitive medieval painting, predilection for abstract symbolism and indifference to everything that went beyond the "beautiful".

With Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelites were united by the condemnation of the prose and pragmatics of bourgeois relations, the idealization of the craft way of the Middle Ages. Later, he condemned their "aestheticism" and moved away from them. In January-April 1850, the Pre-Raphaelites published a magazine (four issues) "The Germ" with the subtitle "Reflections on the Nature of Poetry, Literature and Art"; the last two issues have been renamed: "Art and Poetry as Reflections on Nature"; its editor was W. M. Rossetti, who was also the secretary of the Pre-Raphaelites. The artists Ford Madox Brown (1821-93), Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-98), Arthur Hughes (1830-1915), writer, artist, ideologist of English socialism William Morris (1834) adjoined the Pre-Raphaelites (but were not members of the brotherhood) -96), sister of D.G. and W. M. Rossetti - the poetess Christina Rossetti (1830-94), who published her poems in their magazine.

Pre-Raphaelite central figure

The central figure of the Pre-Raphaelites is D. G. Rossetti. In his poetry, focused on the duel of the spiritual and the sensual as eternally opposed to each other principles in man, the oscillation characteristic of the Pre-Raphaelites between mysticism and the glorification of sensuality, an attempt to reconcile mysticism and eroticism on the basis of the deification of the flesh, was most clearly embodied. In D. G. Rossetti, the sensual often wins over the spiritual. He loved to refer to Dante, his love for Beatrice. Dante's fascination is evident in his book of translations, The Early Italian Poets (1861). The religious and mystical beginning of Catholicism was often obscured in the perception of the Pre-Raphaelites by the purely pictorial.

The splendor of the Catholic church ritual, the bizarre forms of Gothic architecture sometimes captivated them, regardless of the ideas embodied in it. The most consistent in expressing religious Catholic views are Hunt in painting and K. Rossetti in poetry. In 1853 the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood disintegrates. Millais went to Scotland, and when he returned, he became a commercial artist, painting commissioned portraits and sentimental paintings. Hunt went to Palestine in 1854 in search of a more realistic background for his religious paintings, and throughout his life he remained the most consistent. Uvulner went to Australia, Collinson converted to Catholicism in 1852 and joined the religious community.

The Pre-Raphaelites were connected by personal friendship and aesthetic affinity with A. Swinburne, W. Pater, O. Beardsley, O. Wilde and had a significant impact on "aestheticism" as a trend in literature and painting of the 1880s.

The word Pre-Raphaelite comes from English Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.

Pre-Raphaelites (English) Pre-Raphaelites listen)) is a trend in painting and literature of the 19th century (early 1850). The very name of the Pre-Raphaelites attributed the artists of this trend to the Florentine artists who were before, such as Perugino, Giovanni Bellini and others. The Pre-Raphaelites fought against the blind imitation of classical art. The most famous figures of this genre were: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, Arthur Hughes, Walter Crane, John William Waterhouse and others.

The movement was called Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The fraternity included: J. E. Millais, Holman Hunta, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Michael Rossetti, Thomas Woolner, Frederick Stevens, and James Collinson. They believed that modern painting had reached a dead end and was not developing at all. The only way to fix this, they considered a return to early Italian art, which existed before the great artist Raphael. They considered Raphael the founder of Academicism, which violated the sincerity and purity of painting.

At their core, they were the real opposition to modern painting. For the first time, the abbreviation P. R. B. i.e. Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood appeared in Rossetti's Youth of the Virgin Mary. She then appeared in such paintings as Isabella by artist J. E. Millet and Rienzi by artist Holman Hunt. In addition, the fraternity released their own magazine, which was called Sprout.

The emergence of such a dissenting community was determined by the system itself, by the then established laws of painting. In British painting, there was practically one academicism, which was controlled by the Royal Academy of Arts. This official institution followed all the innovations, new trends in art and, one might say, cut off the oxygen to everything that did not look like academicism. People began to frankly get bored with the abstractly beautiful nature in all the paintings in a row, events far from reality, exemplary mythological and religious plots.

The Pre-Raphaelites basically drew from nature. Contemporaries of the Pre-Raphaelites saw real-existing relatives and friends in their paintings. Gone are the conventions. The artist and his model became equal creators of the work. The saleswoman who volunteered to pose could become the queen, and Lady Lilith was a woman of easy virtue.

Initially, the Pre-Raphaelites were fairly well received by the public, but then a wave of criticism fell upon them for painting completely unthinkable pictures. Critics began to laugh at them for the fact that they clumsily try to copy the style of the works of the masters of the past. What used to be pure urge has become mere imitation and imitation.

The Pre-Raphaelites received recognition after the support of a certain Ruskin. After that, their success took off. Paintings began to be snapped up and exhibited at international exhibitions. However, in spite of everything, in 1853 the brotherhood broke up. The artists were united only by their love of history, but otherwise their opinions differed. As a result, all the artists parted and pre-Raphaelism ceased to exist.

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R. Fenton. Interior of Tintern Abbey, late 1850s

In 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood arose in Great Britain - an association of artists created by William Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Milles. Young painters were against the system of academic education and the conservative tastes of Victorian society.

The Pre-Raphaelites were inspired by the painting of the Italian Proto-Renaissance and the 15th century, hence the very name "Pre-Raphaelites" - literally "before Raphael" (Italian High Renaissance artist Rafael Santi).

Frederick Scott Archer's invention of the wet colloid process, which replaced calotype, coincided with the rise of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Members of the fraternity enthusiastically welcomed the emergence of a new method. At a time when most artists considered the amazing accuracy of the photographic image to be a disadvantage, the Pre-Raphaelites, who themselves strove for scrupulous rendering of details in painting, admired this particular aspect of photography. An art critic who supported the ideas of the Pre-Raphaelites, John Ruskin, spoke of the first daguerreotypes he bought in Venice as “little treasures”: “As if a magician reduced a real object (San Marco or Canal Grande) so that he could take it with him to an enchanted land.

The Pre-Raphaelites, like many artists of that time, used photographs as a preparatory stage for creating paintings. Gabriel Rossetti took a series of photographs of Jane Morris, which became the material for the artist's future canvases. Rossetti and William Morris painted and photographed this woman many times, finding in her the features of the romantic medieval beauty that they so admired.

A few years after the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England, the “For highly artistic photography” movement appeared. The organizers of this movement were the painters Oscar Gustav Reilander (1813–1875) and Henry Peach Robinson (1830–1901), who were closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and shared their ideas. Reilander and Robinson, like the Pre-Raphaelites, drew inspiration from the world of images of medieval English literature, from the works of the English poets William Shakespeare and John Milton. In 1858, Robinson created one of his best photographs, The Lady of Shalott, close in composition to the Pre-Raphaelite painting Ophelia by D. Milles. Being an adherent of photomontage, Robinson printed a picture from two negatives: on one negative the author took a model in a boat, on the other he captured a landscape.

Members of the movement "For highly artistic photography" interpreted the picture as a picture, in full accordance with the norms of academic painting. In his book Pictorial Effect in Photography (1869), Robinson referred to the rules of composition, harmony, and balance necessary to achieve "painterly effect": using paint and pencil.

Oscar Gustaf Reilander was born in Sweden, studied painting in Italy and moved to England in 1841. Reilander became interested in photography in the 1850s. Fame brought him the allegorical composition "Two Ways of Life", exhibited in 1857 at the Exhibition of Art Treasures in Manchester. The photograph was made using the photomontage technique, and Reilander needed 30 (!) negatives to make it. But the lack of public recognition led him to abandon his laborious technique and move on to shooting portraits. Unlike his allegorical compositions, Rejlander's portraits are more perfect in terms of technique. Miss Mander's portrait is one of the finest Reilander's.

The painter Roger Fenton (1819–1869) had the highest opinion of photography, even founding a photographic society in 1853. His early photographic series with views of Russia, portraits of the royal family and reporting from the Crimean War brought him international recognition. Fenton's approach to the landscape is connected with the Pre-Raphaelites and their vision: a high horizon line, the absence of such romantic devices as haze, fog, etc. Fenton, like the Pre-Raphaelites, sought to emphasize his technical skill and sang the tangible reality of the landscape. The master also shared the Pre-Raphaelite interest in women in exotic attire, which can be seen in the "Nubian Water Carriers" or "Egyptian Dancing Girls".

Of particular note are the photographs of children taken by Lewis Carroll (1832–1898). Author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was also a gifted amateur photographer. For Carroll, light painting was not just a pastime, but a great passion, to which he sacrificed a lot of time and to which he devoted several small works and even the poem “Hiawatha the Photographer” (1857):

On Hiawatha's shoulder - A box of rosewood: The device is collapsible, Of planks and glass, Deftly tightened with screws, To fit in a chest. Hiawatha climbs into the casket And opens the hinges, Turning the small casket Into a cunning figure As if from the books of Euclid. Puts it on a tripod And climbs under the black canopy. Crouching, he waves his hand: - Well! Freeze! I beg you! A very strange activity.

The writer devoted 25 years to the "strange" occupation, during which he created wonderful children's portraits, showing himself to be a fine connoisseur of child psychology. Like the Pre-Raphaelites, who moved farther and farther into the world of their fantasy in search of ideal and beauty, Carroll was looking for his fabulous Alice in the photographic Looking Glass. Mrs. Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1878) turned to photography in the mid-1860s when her daughter gave her a camera. “I longed to capture all the beauty that passed before me,” Cameron wrote, “and finally my desire was granted.”

In 1874–75, Cameron, at the request of her friend Tennyson, illustrated some of his poems and poems. The composition of the photograph “The Parting of Lancelot and Guinevere” is close to the composition of the paintings of D. G. Rossetti, but Cameron does not have the accuracy in conveying details that is inherent in the Pre-Raphaelites. By softening the optical pattern, Cameron achieves greater poetry in his works.

The work of the Pre-Raphaelites and photographers was very closely connected. And the influence was not one-sided. Julia Cameron, abandoning precise focusing, created magnificent photographic studies. Rossetti, who highly appreciated her work, changed his style of writing, subsequently striving for greater artistic generalization. Gabriel Rossetti and John Milles used photographs to create their paintings, and the photographers in turn turned to themes developed by the Pre-Raphaelites. Photo portraits created by L. Carroll, D. M. Cameron and O. G. Reilander convey not so much the character as the moods and dreams of their models - which is typical of Pre-Raphaelism. The approach to depicting nature was the same: the early landscapes of the Pre-Raphaelites and the landscapes of photographers such as, for example, Roger Fenton, are extremely accurate and detailed.