The Pre-Raphaelites PDF
Preview The Pre-Raphaelites
THE PRE-RAPHAELrTES V r JOHN NICOLL 1 a^^ ^ HPI^P ^0 ^1^.^ ..m^ . W'0^ ^^^^^IH^p^ ^*S;:- nudio vista dutton PICTUREBACK 15s (75p) $2.95 I — The Pre-Raphaelites This book provides a general introduction to the work ofthe Pre-RaphaeHte Brotherhood, and to that of their friends and associates. It explores boththeir art and theirideas and, by study- ing the wayin which the Brotherhood itselfcame to be formed, attempts to pinpoint the particular qualities that underlay their originality; discusses too how muchtheiraims were acrystalliza- tion and synthesis ofideas current in the mid-nineteenthcentury world ofart. While the central paintings of Rossetti, Hunt and Millais — executed between 1848 and 1852 are considered in some detail, the contributions ofthe less well-known members and associates ofthe Brotherhood are also examined. A final section traces the Brotherhood'sinfluence throughthelateryears ofthenineteenth century and relates it to the Aesthetic Movement and Art Nouveau. An Oxford graduate, John Nicoll is currently working as an editor in a publishing house. Simeon Solomon ThePainter'sPleasaunce 1861 Watercolour 10J'' X 13J" Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester The Pre-Raphaelites John Nicoll General Editor David Herbert Studio Vista/Dutton Pictureback For Frances ©John Nicoll 1970 Designed by Gillian Greenwood Published in GreatBritain by Studio Vista Limited Blue StarHouse, Highgate Hill, London, N.19 and in the United States ofAmerica by E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc 201 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003 Setin iipt Bembo Made and Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The ChaucerPress) Ltd, Bungay Suffolk SBN 289 79783 7 (paperback) SBN 289 79784 5 (hardback) Contents 1 Origins 7 2 The Brotherhood 27 3 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 57 4 Wilham Holman Hunt 84 5 John Everett Millais 97 6 Associates 112 7 Successors 153 Acknowledgements 166 Selective Bibliography 167 I John Everett Millais Cynuvi andIplii^cfiia 1848 45" X 58" Coll. Lord Lcvcrhulme (Photo Royal Academy) a Origins 1 In the middle decades of the nineteenth century the spirits of romanticism and philosophic idealism, which had permeated European thought since the late eighteenth century, werejoined by a new sense ofthe importance ofscientific inquiry, and were gradually superseded, at least among the avant garde, by an interest in scientific determinism which, it was hoped, would elucidate once and for all some of the eternal truths. These conflicting ideals were the central concern ofmost intellectuals and artists, and the story ofthePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood is to a considerable extent the history oftheir conflict and corruption among one small group ofartists and their adherents. In 1848 there was a revolution in every major country in Europe. In England the revolutionary fervour manifested itself most dramatically in a series of Chartist demonstrations, and among the sympathetic observers of one of these, the great procession from Russell Square to Kensington Common, were two young art students, John Everett Millais (1829-96) and Wilham HolmanHunt (1827-1910), whohad eachjust delivered a~painting to the Royal Academy for its summer exhibition. Cymon and Iphigenia (i) was a brilliant essay in the style ofEtty (2), then considered one of the greatest living artists. Its fluid, looselymodelledforms arederivedultimatelyfromthepaintings ofRubens, andtheRomanandBolognese mastersofthesixteenth century, and only the uncompromising frontality of the com- position gives any indication ofMillais' dissatisfaction with the current fashion. Hunt's Eve ofSt Agnes (3) was more prophetic. The carefully observed detail, the interest intheeffects ofhght, — the awkward pose ofthe drunken reveller in the foreground — difficultycreatedonlytobeovercome andtheuseofKeats' then little-known poem as a basis for the painting were all features characteristic oflater Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Ij / 2 William Etty TheJudgement ofParis 1826 70" X 107I'' Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight 3 William Holman Hunt The Eve ofStAgnes 1848 30J" X hVGuildhallArtGallery,London (Photo R. B. Fleming and Co.)
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