The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English artists and critics founded in 1848, seeking to reform art by emulating Italian Renaissance styles prior to Raphael. They critiqued the influence of artists like Reynolds and emphasized detailed work with intense colors. Notable members included the Rossettis, Hunt, and Millais.
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, founded in 1848, was a group of English artists and critics who aimed to reform art by returning to the detailed style and intense colors of early Italian Renaissance art (before Raphael). They rejected the perceived mechanistic approach of later artists, particularly the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Key members included the Rossettis, Hunt, and Millais, with later associates like Burne-Jones and Morris.
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Back | The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner who formed a seven-member "Brotherhood" modelled in part on the Nazarene movement. The Brotherhood was only ever a loose association and their principles were shared by other artists of the time, including Ford Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes and Marie Spartali Stillman. Later followers of the principles of the Brotherhood included Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and John William Waterhouse. Proserpine, 1874, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, portrayed by Jane Morris The group sought a return to the abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian art. They rejected what they regarded as the mechanistic approach first adopted by Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. The Brotherhood believed the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art, hence the name "Pre-Raphaelite". In particular, the group objected to the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, founder of the English Royal Academy of Arts, whom they called "Sir Sloshua". To the Pre-Raphaelites, according to William Michael Rossetti, "sloshy" meant "anything lax or scamped in the process of painting ... and hence ... any thing or person of a commonplace or conventional kind". The group associated their work with John Ruskin, an English critic whose influences were driven by his religious background. The group continued to accept the concepts of history painting and mimesis, imitation of nature, as central to the purpose of art. The Pre-Raphaelites defined themselves as a reform movement, created a distinct name for their form of art, and published a periodical, The Germ, to promote their ideas. The group's debates were recorded in the Pre-Raphaelite Journal. |
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