In a richly illustrated re-examination of a seminal period in art history, the author of Rossetti and His Circle asks important questions about the pre-Raphaelite artists, their work, their artistic themes, and their influence on the history of art.

This illustrated book focuses on the Pre-Raphaelite artists and their radical departure from artistic conventions. Barringer explores the meanings encoded in Pre-Raphaelite paintings and analyses key pictures and their significance within the complex social and cultural matrix of 19th century Britain.

This vibrant collection of essays claims that a complex network of texts by critics, biographers and diarists established the credibility and influence of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Throughout the twentieth century, Modernist taste failed to acknowledge the achievement of oppositional groupings such as the Pre-Raphaelites. The essays collected here, however, reveal that the British group anticipated later avant-gardes by using the written word to configure for itself a radical artistic identity. Public and critics alike were scandalized by the radicalism of Pre-Raphaelite painting, its unflinching portrayal of historical figures and of contemporary life, and its irreverent attitude to artistic convention. Pre-Raphaelitism's innovations were not confined to style: new forms of artistic identity and behaviour were explored. As the contributors interrogate the texts through which Pre-Raphaelitism was constructed, they demonstrate that the movement's wide influence as a cultural phenomenon derived from the interplay between exhibited works and critical discourse. Applying a range of sophisticated methodologies from the fields of literary studies, art history, and cultural studies, these interdisciplinary essays uncover the neglected role of texts in the success of the Pre-Raphaelite rebellion and argue in favor of a new centrality for this movement in the history of nineteenth-century European culture.

This vibrant collection of essays claims that a complex network of texts by critics, biographers and diarists established the credibility and influence of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Throughout the twentieth century, Modernist taste failed to acknowledge the achievement of oppositional groupings such as the Pre-Raphaelites. The essays collected here, however, reveal that the British group anticipated later avant-gardes by using the written word to configure for itself a radical artistic identity. Public and critics alike were scandalized by the radicalism of Pre-Raphaelite painting, its unflinching portrayal of historical figures and of contemporary life, and its irreverent attitude to artistic convention. Pre-Raphaelitism's innovations were not confined to style: new forms of artistic identity and behaviour were explored. As the contributors interrogate the texts through which Pre-Raphaelitism was constructed, they demonstrate that the movement's wide influence as a cultural phenomenon derived from the interplay between exhibited works and critical discourse. Applying a range of sophisticated methodologies from the fields of literary studies, art history, and cultural studies, these interdisciplinary essays uncover the neglected role of texts in the success of the Pre-Raphaelite rebellion and argue in favor of a new centrality for this movement in the history of nineteenth-century European culture.

The Pre-Raphaelite Movement began in 1848, and experienced its heyday in the 1860s and 1870s. Influenced by the then little-known Keats and Blake, as well as Wordsworth, Shelley and Coleridge, Pre-Raphaelite poetry 'etherialized sensation' (in the words of Antony Harrison), and popularized the notion ofl'art pour l'art - art for art's sake. Where Victorian realist novels explored the grit and grime of the Industrial Revolution, Pre-Raphaelite poems concentrated on more abstract themes of romantic love, artistic inspiration and sexuality. Later they attracted Aesthetes and Decadents like Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley and Ernest Dowson, not to mention Gerard Manley Hopkins and W.B. Yeats.

The group of young painters and writers who coalesced into the Pre-Raphaelite movement in the middle years of the nineteenth century became hugely influential in the development not only of literature and painting, but also more generally of art and design. Though their reputation has fluctuated over the years, their achievements are now recognised and their style enjoyed and studied widely. This volume explores the lives and works of the central figures in the group: among others, the Rossettis, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Ford Madox Brown, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. This is the first book to provide a general introduction to the Pre-Raphaelite movement that integrates its literary and visual art forms. The Companion explains what made the Pre-Raphaelite style unique in painting, poetry, drawing and prose.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, formed in 1848 by the young Millais, Holman Hunt and Rossetti, has long been recognised as a high point in Victorian artistic production. But whilst we know much of the private lives of Pre-Raphaelite artists and writers and their best-known paintings are very familiar, their work (and particularly their visual imagery) has attracted limited attention from art historians and critical theorists. This collection redresses the situation with a series of detailed critical and historical studies of individual issues and productions, artistic and literary, relative to Pre-Raphaelitism. Using rigorous new critical analysis, the book throws new light on the ways in which the Pre-Raphaelites addressed philosophical, religious, political and social questions. It will be essential reading for all students of Victorian art, literature and ideas.--Back cover.

Following on from the success of Bloomsbury at Home, Pamela Todd turns her attention to the fiery group of young artists, designers and thinkers, led by the charismatic figure of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, which, in 1848, came together as the semi-secret Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. She explores their personalities and work through the places and haunts they made their own, presenting an intimate view of an important section of the avant-garde artistic community and placing it firmly in its Victorian context. The Pre-Raphaelites at Home is a book about personality and place. Biographies of each of the extensive cast of characters open the book, followed by a chronology of the significant events affecting the group over more than 60 years. In the succeeding chapters Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt and Thomas Woolner are joined by William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and their intimate circle. Place by place, we are led through the story of subtly shifting allegiance, of love and deaths, adultery and illness, as the angry young men became successful, and, in some cases, even respectable. The lively narrative, packed with quotation from their own work, is lavishly illust

In this completely revised and updated second edition, Staley takes into account important paintings that have recently come to light, as well as current understandings of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and its legacy. The author provides a comprehensive account of the background and formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the role of landscape in major Pre-Raphaelite figurative paintings, and the emergence and impact of a school of Pre-Raphaelite landscape painting as well as its place in the wider tradition of British landscape painting. The important Pre-Raphaelite figures, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, and Ford Madox Brown, are discussed, as are the main landscape specialists affected by the movement: Thomas Seddon, George Price Boyce, John William Inchbold, and John Brett. Attention is paid to the significant influence of John Ruskin and his active involvement with many of the artists. This spectacular volume, enhanced by over 150 colour illustrations, is the definitive study of its subject and will provide both visual and intellectual stimulation for anyone drawn to the work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and its followers.