Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

In the autumn of 1848 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, and John Everett Millais joined together to form a small collective of artists with a few commonalities: they disliked what they viewed as the stale, monotonous works displayed by the Royal Academy, they appreciated early Italian works that they studied by examining etchings such as those by late-18th, early-19th-century engravers Carlo Lasinio and Benozzo Gozzoli, and they admired the work of critic John Ruskin, particularly the second volume of his five volume work Modern Painters. Rossetti instigated the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and suggested expanding the numbers of the group. James Collinson, Thomas Woolner, and Frederic George Stephens joined the Brotherhood as well as Dante Gabriel Rossetti's brother, William Michael, who, though not an artist, served as the historian for the group. Although the Brotherhood only remained intact from 1848-1853, it had a lasting impact on the art world as it increasingly moved away from the rigid academic style. 

Young, idealistic, and enthusiastic, the members of the Brotherhood admired and in some ways emulated the engravings of early Italian artists. They preferred bright colors (which they achieved by using a wet white ground for their works) to the chiaroscuro suggested by the Academy, unidealized faces, and what they referred to as "truth to nature." Focusing on the use of symbolism, particularly with regard to color and flowers, the Brotherhood employed a wide range of subjects—from religious and literary topics, issues of morality to sensual expression of the female form. The Pre-Raphaelites were bound together through their ideas and ideals more so than their artistic style. 

Several women were associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, though they never received the attention or accolades of some of the male artists of the group. Christina Rossetti was an accomplished poet. Elizabeth Siddell, frequent model for Dante Gabriel Rossetti and later his wife, was also an artist, but she was dismissed as simply the model of Dante Rossetti. Jane Morris, wife of William Morris who was a part of the second generation of Pre-Raphaelites, was an embroiderer, but it more well know as the lover of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The dramatic personal lives of the Pre-Raphaelites seem to have distracted from their artistic accomplishments.

In 1850, the Brotherhood produced a journal titled The Germ, an allusion to new growth as they worked to form a non-academic style. Dante Gabriel Rossetti suggested the creation of the journal, while his brother, William Michael, served as editor. Poetic and literary contributions for the journal came from Brotherhood members as well as the group's friends and relatives, foremost among who was Christina Rossetti (Dante and William's sister). The journal served as a platform for the art and poetry of the Brotherhood. It espoused their paradoxical interest in an art that captured the spirit of modernity and of Quattrocento Italian artwork simultaneously. Although the journal was only able to produce four volumes, its publication brought the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to the attention of major art critics who, despite initial indifference, were now expressing outright concern and objection to the works of the Brothehood. John Ruskin, whose writings were one of the original inspirations for the Brotherhood, came to their aid by publishing letters and a pamphlet in their defense. Though he did not fully embrace their work, he appreciated their ideas—a return to the natural, realistic depictions of people and places as well as a renewed interest in Quattrocento Italy. 

The rise of the middle-class in 1850s England created a strong base of patronage for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They were particularly interested in contemporary art, and Pre-Raphaelite works provided them with a fresh, new, affordable alternative to the Old Masters. Blending the older, medieval style with contemporary ideas and attitudes appealed to artistsThe Pre-Raphaelites drew inspiration from artists, authors, historical figures, and philosophers, whom they referred to as their "immortals," including Jesus Christ, William Shakespeare, Dante Aligheri, Homer, John Keats, Percy Shelley, and Robert Browning among others. These influences are frequently reflected in their choice of subject matter or the inclusion of poetry in conjunction with an artwork. Though they admired the same "immortals," each member of the group had a different style. By 1850, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood began to crumble. Collinson left the group that year, followed by Woolner two years later. In 1853, Millais was made an Associate of the Academy, which to several members of the group meant that he had abandoned their beliefs and ideals. 

It was not until 1856 that the second generation of Pre-Raphaelite artists began to work with Dante Rossetti. William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, both of whom were students at Oxford and admired the work of Rossetti, visited the artist and began working alongside him. This new phase of Pre-Raphaelitism directly contributed to the Aesthetic Movement and was marked by a departure from the naturalism and bright colors of the first generation.  

-William Holman Hunt, Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

"It is the art of culture, of reflection, of intellectual luxury, of aesthetic refinement, of .

-Henry James, in Galaxy, 1877

-Carol Dunlap, The Culture Vulture: A Guide to Style, Period, and Ism, p. 212

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