Product Description
In 1848 seven inexperienced young artists banded together to form the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, one of the first and most distinctive movements in modern art. A century and a half later, their art still has the power to shock, as well as fascinate, its audiences.

Through detailed analysis of the materials, techniques, and working methods of the artists, this lavishly illustrated book examines how Pre-Raphaelite paintings compel the viewer to see more, and more vividly, than traditional painting styles. This intensity of observation reinforces the distinctive subject matter the the works: the natural world and the human model; gender identities and sexual relationships; and debates on politics, science, and religion. Among the artists featured are Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Edward Burne-Jones, and Ford Maddox Brown. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Big book, small pictures
Poor quality and small pictures on good glossy paper, not for a painter. There is no usefull picture about Ophelia(first picture is very small second one is just a detail).

It's a Pre-Raphaelite book
The text is interesting, and there are some odd as well as very recognizable images.Not too bad.

Pre-Raphaelites - a Modern Movement?
Elizabeth Prettejohn introduces her thesis in the Prologue and continues to weave it throughout her sumptuously illustrated "The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites." It is her contention that Pre-Raphaelite art should not be dismissed from the history of modern art but should constitute one of the legitimate modern art movements, equal to those developed in France. She designates several criteria to support her thesis, one of them being originality. The minutely detailed paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites convey a definite "truth to nature," as if the artist had observed in nature these particular details. For example, the unique clump of reeds in Millais' "Ophelia" of 1851-52 appears to have been viewed exactly as it is shown in the painting. This very specific detail was new in English painting and broke with previous tradition. This sense of originality or breaking with tradition is what the Pre-Raphaelites shared with the French Impressionists.

In addition, the author gives a rich history of the artists and their art and includes the art created by the female Pre-Raphaelite artists in the first part of the book, "Stories of Pre-Raphaelitism." The second part, "Studies in Pre-Raphaelitism" discusses recent research in such subjects as technique, Pre-Raphaelite realism, gender and sexuality, and contexts for Pre-Raphaelitism. The book is articulately written and free from the erudite jargon of art history. It is a book that will inform and delight both the general reader and the informed art historian.

Very Nice Overview of Pre-Raphaelite Art
What's good about this anthology of Pre-Raphaelite artwork is that it avoids the pitfall of its contributing commentators being too wordy (and self-aggrandizing?) and sticks to succinct descriptions, while showcasing the art and letting the wordless expressions of the paintings speak for themselves. After all, one glance at a painting is worth a whole chapter of text describing it. I think that's often forgotten in books about art. The Pre-Raphealites were the last of the 19th century Romantics, a sort of visual version of the Romantic poets of earlier in the century, and the imagination that went into their works tells us much about their era and the Brotherhood's rebellion against the staid industrial age virtues of their time and place.

A Beautiful Book
The Pre-Raphaelites are one of the oddest and most English groups of artists from the Victorian/Impressionist age. The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites by Elizabeth Prettejohn helped me to understand the motives of the artists concerned (why pre-Raphael as opposed to pre-anyone else?) and their connection to the overall styles of art during the mid-1800s (both in England and abroad). The book is well-written and beautifully illustrated, containing one of the most complete sets of Pre-Raphaelite paintings I've seen in an art book.

Ms Prettejohn does a noble job of defending Pre-Raphaelite art and as a devotee I have no real argument with her position. Nevertheless, I'm not sure I believe that non-appreciation of Pre-Raphaelite art is due only to the heirarchy of Western Art (i.e. it is "politically correct" to prefer Monet to Hunt). It is possible that the Pre-Raphaelites were . . . well . . . just not as good as their Impressionist neighbors. I'm not an Impressionist fan myself. On the other hand, I LIKE Raphael.

Whether or not the Pre-Raphaelites are good or great or master painters, they deserve thorough study. This Ms Prettejohn has accomplished.

Recommendation: It's beautiful. Buy it, especially if you a Pre-Raphaelite devotee. ... Read more

Product Description
The work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood-William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, and John Everett Millais, among others-is endlessly popular. This beautiful volume brings together for the first time the V&A's magnificent collection of Pre-Raphaelite art in all mediums.

Furniture, jewelry, photography, book illustration, interior design, ceramics, and textiles are all represented alongside paintings and drawings, telling the fascinating story of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and its development into Aestheticism. In addition to showcasing many beautiful finished works, the book features preparatory drawings, which demonstrate the working practices of key members of the movement as well as their sources of inspiration. Emphasizing the close relationship between the fine and decorative arts in the works of the Pre-Raphaelites, the book sheds new light on this fascintating circle of artists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Stunning Collection
This book is a marvel!The Victoria and Albert Museum itself developed during the time of the Pre-Raphaelites.The Green Dining Room was designed and decorated by Morris, Burne-Jones and Philip Webb, and there are a lot of Pre-Raphaelite pieces in the collections of the museum.I have previously reviewed a different book with a stunning collection of Pre-Raphaelite art but there is very little overlap between that book and this one.And this book makes the point that much of the Pre-Raphaelite impact on the public was through the decorative works of the artists, which were much less expensive to buy.The book contains sketches, paintings, tapestries, stained glass, engravings, pottery, jewelry, photographs, book illustrations, woodworking, and tile work.Well worth adding to your collection if you are a Pre-Raphaelite fan. ... Read more

Product Description
In Victorian England, with the country swept up in the Industrial Revolution, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, close to William Morris Arts and Crafts movement, yearned for a return to bygone values. Wishing to revive the pure and noble forms of the Italian Renaissance, the major painters of the circle such as John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, in opposition to the academicism of the time, favoured realism and biblical themes over the affected canons of the nineteenth century. This work, with its captivating text and rich illustrations, describes with enthusiasm this singular movement which notably inspired the followers of Art Nouveau and Symbolism. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

"Art for Art's Sake": Late -Victorian Aestheticism
"A great deal has been written on Aestheticism in Victorian literature.Linda Dowling's bibliography of 1977, 'Aestheticism andDecadence,' lists 599 books and articles, and there is no slackening ofinterest since that date. Yet the equivalent phenomenon in the visual artshas a minuscule scholarly literature" (from the Introduction byElizabeth Prettejohn in "After the Pre-Raphaelites").Thisrecent title edited by Prettejohn brings together contributions by numerousart scholars who address Aestheticism and art criticism in thelate-Victorian period, with patricular focus on painting and sculpture. The Introduction by Prettejohn provides an excellent overview of the visualand literary art culture of the nineteenth-century.Other contributorsoffer new interpretations of important figures such as Swinburne, Pater,and Wilde.Important issues addressed include "art for art'ssake" (prevalent in the Aesthetic Movement), morality and art, and therelationship between religion and art.In light of the current debate overthe content and morality of the visual arts and literature, this bookprovides good material for understanding the comparable controversies thatexisted over a century ago, and how they were addressed.Prettejohn'scompilation is a fine addition to the study of the Aesthetic Movement ofthe nineteenth-century, with fresh and provocative material well-suited forthe ongoing study of art criticism.It is touted as being "the firstscholarly study of parallel trends in the visual arts," and it upholdsthat distinction. ... Read more

Product Description
Rich colors, exquisite detail, and beautiful ladies of Romantic mythology and Victorian society. Featuring gorgeous full-color illustrations, this PC and Mac compatible CD-Rom is an original Lunagirl collection of over 300 beautiful digital images. Paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John William Waterhouse, John Everett Millais, Edward Burne-Jones, Arthur Hughes, and Evelyn De Morgan. All images have titles, and dates when known. All are carefully organized for your enjoyment.

Great Medieval and Renaissance themed images perfect to print for card making, scrapbooking, altered art projects, mixed media, decoupage, collage, ATCs, transparencies, tags, journals, fabric transfers, jewelry, and other crafts. As your printer allows, these vintage pictures can be printed directly onto any paper, card stock, tissue, vellum, transparencies, labels, even fabric to make quilt designs.

These images are JPG format, all 300 dpi. Print directly from the CD, or copy to any image-editing software to resize as needed and print. This collection is great for research and study, and also just beautiful and fascinating to wander through.

Who were the Pre-Raphaelites?

The Pre-Raphaelite movement began as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of English painters, poets and critics who set out to reform the art of their day. They favored brilliant colors, rich detail, and complex unconventional compositions, and rejected what they considered the formulaic compositions of artists such as Raphael. They loved the rich colors of Quattro cento Italian and Flemish art, and developed techniques to achieve a jewel-like brilliance and clarity of color.

Pre-Raphaelites were highly influenced by Romantic poetry, the forms of nature, and Medieval art, and these interests are reflected in their style and their themes. Many of these paintings portray scenes from mythology and literature: Pandora, Psyche, Ophelia, Flora, the Lady of Shallot, stories of King Arthur and the Grail, Dante and Beatrice, goddesses and regal ladies, mermaids and nymphs. Beautiful women are perhaps their most well known subjects.

They eventually split into two groups, one pursuing a Medievalist style and the other (including Millais) favoring realism, but both groups continued to believe that all art was essentially spiritual. Rossetti's medieval themes influenced the famous designer William Morris, known for his colorful, intricate patterns inspired by the forms of nature.

The Pre-Raphaelite movement influenced many later painters as well, especially the European Symbolist movement.

Since the 1970s, there has been continually growing interest in the works of Pre-Raphaelite artists and those associated with the style. Pre-Raphaelite paintings are often beloved by those interested in Celtic mythology and spirituality, and they are very popular with artists working in collage, altered art and mixed media!

Hundreds of lovely images at your fingertips, ready to enjoy and use for all your altered art and crafts projects.

LICENSE & TERMS OF USE: These digital images are offered under license. Purchase of this CD is purchase of a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the digital images in accordance with our terms of use, and ownership of the digital images themselves remains with SummertownSun Publishing. Buyer (the licensee) may print these images for personal non-commercial use. You MAY use up to ten images as many times as you like on hand-made items for sale. Most other commercial uses are prohibited or limited. The digital images themselves may not be resold, shared, uploaded, or otherwise redistributed, for free or for profit, in any printed or digital format without written permission. ... Read more

Product Description
This stunning bouquet of romantic paintings bringstogether two important aspects of Victorian life—the pre-Raphaelitemovement and the language of flowers—in one exquisite volume.

Few artistic movements capture classic notions of beauty asromantically as the Pre-Raphaelites—a group of nineteenth-centurypainters and poets who aimed to revive the purer art of the latemedieval period. Brilliantly colored and carefully composed,pre-Raphaelite paintings are revered for their idealistic portrayal ofwomen, their emphasis on nature and morality, and their use ofliterature and mythology. Flowers figure prominently in many of thesepaintings, the blooms as physically lush as they are laden withsymbolism. For this was the Victorian era, when the language offlowers was spoken by everyone.

In this beautiful volume, Debra N. Mancoff, an expert on Pre-Raphaelite art and the floral lexicon presents forty breathtaking examples, which illuminate the meaning of flowers in all aspects of Victorian culture. She offers brief commentaries on individual paintings as well as biographies of the period’s leading artists and their models. A captivating introduction to an artistic movement, this exquisitely produced book is also a romantic keepsake of an artistic sensibility that speaks volumes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A throw-away book
I have several books by Mancoff and get the feeling she just went through the motions on this one. Ostensibly about floral symbolism, the book actually contains very little on the subject. It's more of a collection of pretty pictures accompanied by some juicy gossip about the affairs of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne Jones, etc. Often a painting will clearly show many flowers--for example Charles Allston Collins' "Convent Thoughts" has eleven--but the desciption will cover only a few. In other cases, the entry will be 95% about the personal life of the artist with 1 or 2 sentences about flowers tacked on at the end. Mancoff does assemble some paintings that are seldom reproduced, and it is fun to look at more popular paintings with new eyes. I would have liked it better, however, if she had explored how this symbolic language developed, how familiar people were with this language, and had included even more pop culture references to floral symbolism than she does. ... Read more

Product Description
What happened in Victorian painting and sculpture after the pre-Raphaelites? Aestheticism has been called the next avant-garde movement but attention has centred on literary figures such as Algernon Charles Swinburn, Walter Peter and Oscar Wilde. This volume overviews parallel trends in the visual arts, including the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, James McNeil Whistler, Edward Burne-Jones, Simeon Solomon and Albert Moore among others. Victorian Aestheticism has often been treated as a fivolous elevation of art above the concerns of political and social life. It is reinterpreted here as a significant exploration of what it might mean to produce works of art in the modern world. The chapters address not only "art for art's sake" but linkages with the realms of science and morality. A major concern is the relationship between art and sexuality, from the experiments of the Rossetti circle in the 1860s to the male nude in late-Victorian sculpture. Both homosexual and heterosexual eroticism emerge as key issues in the artistic debates of the late-Victorian period. ... Read more

Product Description
Pre-Raphaelite images are among the most popular in Western art. The mid-Victorian period was a time of great activity for book and magazine publishers, and the illustrations produced by the Pre-Raphaelite artists have retained their appeal for a wide audience. This comprehensive volume consists of biographical essays on 42 artists and their work, with a catalogue of the complete illustrative output of each artist, arranged by book/periodical title and artwork title. Accompanying each chapter are reproductions of almost every Pre-Raphaelite-style illustration by that artist, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, Ford Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes and Edward Burne-Jones. For each artist there is a catalogue of his complete illustrative output, including all known wood-engravings, etchings, steel-engravings and lithographs, arranged by book or periodical title and artwork title. ... Read more

Product Description
Surveys the origins, development, techniques, approaches, principles, motifs, and major paintings of the nineteenth-century British school, relating the painters and their works to their society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

a book of its day
Quite what the one-issue fixated rant below has to do with this book I don't know. Why Mr. Johnson thinks Hilton and Barringer - writing books about ART - should discuss in any detail the work of Christina Rossetti, a poet who never drew or painted, I don't know. The fact is that the most important Pre-Raphaelite painters were men, not surprising given the social attitudes and expectations of the time, but a fact nonetheless. Siddal made some interesting, if awkward, small-scale works, other female artists were involved at a late stage in the movement. If anything, this absurdly described 'masculine hegemony' was far more accommodating to women than others of its day.

To discuss this book in more meaningful terms, we have to look at the date it was published, the attitudes about art then prevailing and Hilton's perception of the PRB in the light of this. In post-60s mode, Hilton presents the PRB in terms of the values of the day - just as 'Ophelia' and other works were being rediscovered through the psychedelic lens of the 'St Pepper' cover. For Hilton, both the bohemianism and the moralism of the PRB was a partial 'failure'. The Victorian moralism of Hunt blocked pleasure in painting, rendering some works absurd - while Brown's 'Work' is constrained and congested. This account fails to grasp the deliberate attempts by both artists to visualise tensions, disjunctions and grotesque features of modern experience. Hilton is better on the more sensuous art of Millais and Rossetti, more in tune with the culture of the late 60s. His insights into the intimacies of Rossetti's drawings of Siddal far surpass the crassness of more recent writings.

In all a book that is dated in some respect, factually wrong in others - but still often shines bright and new where it counts.

Hilton, Barringer, and the Pre-Raphaelite Women
The Pre-Raphaelite men, like most masculine hegemonies, could not have survived had it not been for the credible contributions of the women who lurkat the periphery of the Brotherhood.More than mere emotional orsensual inspiration (or support), the Pre-Raphaelite women--ChristinaRossetti, Elizabeth Siddal, and Jane Morris--provided the creative impetusfor their men, and often even the critical eye needed to master a work ofart.History and its historians have not been as generous as they couldhave been in recounting the contributions of these women.

Often, thesummation of any one woman's contributions to the Pre-RaphaeliteBrotherhood is left up to individual biographers.Those writing theintroductory texts frequently fall short of effectively identifying theenormous contributions of the Pre-Raphaelite women.Two such introductorytexts are Timothy Hilton's _The Pre-Raphaelites_ and Tim Barringer's_Reading the Pre-Raphaelites_.Where the Pre-Raphaelite women areconcerned, both texts provide a footnote to the art history of thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood but really do little more than re-emphasizingthe marginal status of the Pre-Raphaelite women.

In his Introduction,Barringer recognizes the artistic aptitude of Christina Rossetti as a poet,of Elizabeth Siddal as an artist, and of Jane Morris as an embroiderer. Furthermore, Barringer claims that the "full contribution of theseartists, and a number of women less directly connected withPre-Raphaelitism, has only recently been acknowledged" (14).Withthis affirmation, _Reading the Pre-Raphaelites_ promises to bring to thefore a considerable new interest in the works of the Pre-Raphaelite women. Barringer, however, does little to revise and reappraise the contributionsof these women.

Where Christina Rossetti is concerned, Barringermentions her only four times in his text: twice in the introduction (11,14); once in relation to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, wherein hereprints her sonnet on the disintegration of the Brotherhood (135); andonce in the epilogue (168).Jane Morris fares somewhat better with sixmentions, including the inclusion of her painting _St Catherine_ (50). Mostly, however, Jane Morris rates mere mention as an appendage to eitherDante Gabriel Rossetti or William Morris (136, 155, 156).

It isElizabeth Siddal, however, who garners the most attention from Barringer,with a total of ten mentions.Barringer offers decent treatment toSiddal's _Pippa Passing the Loose Women_ (144-45) as well as to DanteGabriel Rossetti's use of Siddal as a model (141-42).Barringer is even sogenerous as to include Dante Gabriel Rossetti's _The Artist sitting toElizabeth Siddall_ [sic.] (141).

Timothy Hilton's _ThePre-Raphaelites_ purports to be an art book which "offers someadjustments to the straight art history" of the Pre-Raphaelitemovement.Additionally, Hilton's text supposedly offers a reinterpretationof the activities of several members in Dante Gabriel Rossetti's circle(7)._The Pre-Raphaelites_ precedes _Reading the Pre-Raphaelites_ bytwenty-seven years and was written during the height of the Women'sMovement (in the U.S.).That considered, it should come as no surprisethat Hilton dwells slightly on the subjects of Jane Morris and ElizabethSiddal.What does come as a bit of a surprise is that Hilton glosses overChristina Rossetti, treating her almost parenthetically.She rates a totalof four references in Hilton's text (only three of which are indexed).

Hilton first refers to Christina Rossetti simply as one in a series ofRossetti children (26) and then again as one of the "variousothers" who joined the Brotherhood in their print undertaking _TheGerm_ (50).She receives credit for sitting for the Virgin in herbrother's The Girlhood of _Mary Virgin_ (94) and for being the recipient ofone of her brother's letters (107).

Again, Jane Morris receives aslightly greater amount of recognition, although Hilton's references to hertotal only four.Hilton first mentions Morris as one of the objects ofDante Gabriel Rossetti's "many delineations," a credit which sheshares with "Lizzy" Siddal (59).Hilton then dwells on JaneMorris for four pages, wherein he describes William Morris' profound lovefor her and displays several images of the beautiful Mrs. Morris, includingWilliam Morris' _Queen Guinivere_ (166-69).Jane Morris rates stillanother small note when Hilton inventories Dante Gabriel Rossetti'smenagerie at Cheyne Walk, saying that Rossetti had "a Brahmin bullwhose eyes reminded [him] of Jane Morris" (182).Finally, the authortakes a moment to detail the love affair between Dante Gabriel Rossetti andJane Morris (183-84).

Elizabeth Siddal, "Lizzy" asHilton calls her, yet again rates the most references (seven), and notwithout cause.In addition to her credit as one of Rossetti's models (59,175), she also receives note (this time parenthetically) as one whoattempted to illustrate Wordsworth's "We are Seven" (60).With aseries of illustrations and text, Hilton then describes the love affairbetween Siddal and Dante Rossetti (99-101) and then reiterates the strongaffair by stating "Rossetti was busy with Lizzy Siddal" (107). Hilton sums up his mention of Siddal by detailing, if rather briefly, theweakening of the her marriage to Dante Rossetti, her eventual"accidental death,"and Rossetti's subsequent depression(178-79).

While Hilton's text may offer slightly more insight intothe lives of the Pre-Raphaelite women, neither his nor Barringer's textdoes justice to the lives of these three women.Yes, Elizabeth Siddal wasperhaps the most intricately involved in the goings-on of thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, but Jane Morris' and Christina Rossetti'scontributions should not receive the degree of dismissal that they do. Barringer's and Hilton's attempts at revisionist art histories fail andonce again place the brunt of their focus on the men of the Brotherhood. Both authors allow the Pre-Raphaelite women to remain in the margins of thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood history, and, in doing so, do a disservice toall women artists, no matter in whose shadow they may have stood in duringlife. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

From The Inside Flap:
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a 19th-Century group of dissident artists who rejected the conventional artistic opinions of the academic establishment and sought inspiration from the arts, and later the crafts, of the Middle Ages. The Brotherhood consisted of seven members: Dante Gabriel and William Michael Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, F. G. Stephens, James Collinson and Thomas Woolner, together wiht a handful of fellow-travelers, among them Burne-Jones and William Morris. Other artists were strongly influenced by - or influenced - the movement, such as John Ruskin. Their story is one of rebellion and re-definition of aesthetics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Introduction into the religious conflicts in the Victorian period
Éva Péteri's book - especially the chapter on John Everett Millais' "Christ in the House of his Parents", p. 34) - helped me to understand Henry Holiday's illustrations to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits. The noisy debate (as described by Péteri) triggered by Millais' painting made the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood known to the public. But Millais perhaps put more in his painting (I think of the "sheep" flocking together outside of the window, and of the composition of the window scene in the 16th century painting "Edward VI and the Pope: An Allegory of Reformation") than Péteri was aware of. Holiday (who associated himself with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) may have chosen to quote elements from that painting for his illustration to the chapter "The Baker's Tale" as a statement on the religious conflicts in the Victorian period.

Péteris book made me curious, what Albert Boime's Art in an Age of Civil Struggle, 1848-1871 (A Social History of Modern Art) has to offer.

A remarkable and strongly recommended work
The core of the Pre-Raphaelite movement consisted of the dogmatic art critic John Ruskin, moralist artist-preacher William Holman Hunt; intuitive poet-painter Gabriel Rossetti, Conscientious realist and popular sentimentalist John Everett Millais. The were very different men, but they were all typically Victorian and had large followings among the public. Victorian Approaches To Religion As Reflected In The Art Of The Pre-Raphaelites surveys their religious ideas and use of biblical imagery to provide insights into the religious concerns of their era. This was a time of passionate sectarian debates, the spreading of agnosticism, new Bible-interpretations affected by (and sometimes generated by) scientific discoveries, and repeated attempts to reconcile religious beliefs with the growing phenomena of secularization at the end of the century. Victorian Approaches To Religion As Reflected In The Art Of The Pre-Raphaelites is a remarkable and strongly recommended work of impressive and original scholarship which would grace any 19th Art History academic library collection or supplemental studies reading list. ... Read more