When the founders of the PRB—William Holman Hunt (age 21), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 20), and John Everett Millais (age 19), and several of their friends—were studying at the art academy, the Renaissance was considered the peak of art history, and Raphael was the ultimate artist. The art that preceded it, the art of the Middle Ages, was considered 'primitive,' and given scant attention by their professors.
The members of the PRB felt that English art had stagnated because artists were mindlessly working in a Renaissance style, without rethinking it or adding anything new. They scornfully branded these artists 'Raphaelites,' and that is how they came to think of themselves as Pre-Raphaelites. However, this name is misleading because as the artists matured, they took an interest in the art of the late Renaissance, and even began to study the Venetians, who were on a different track completely.
The thing that bothered them most about the paintings of their teachers is that the edges of their forms and figures tended to merge with the background, leaving certain details unaccounted for. What they liked about the art of Northern Europe was that the edges of the forms are crisp and all the details are depicted distinctly, no matter how far away. This was their idea of 'truth to nature.'
The special exhibit currently at the Legion of Honor Museum of Art, called 'Truth and Beauty,' has only one example of the style they were rebelling against, this very nice self-portrait by Raphael from the Uffizi Museum in Florence.
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| Raphael, Self-Portrait Uffizi / photo by Jan, 2018 |
One of the chief pleasures of the exhibit is the many examples of the art that inspired the Pre-Raphaelites.
Early European Art
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| Jan van Eyck, 1390-1441 The Annunciation, c. 1436 National Gallery, Washington D.C. / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
Jan van Eyck was the greatest painter of his era in Northern Europe, and his version of the archangel announcing to Mary her upcoming pregnancy is widely revered. My photo has a distracting reflection right in the center, but you can see that every detail is richly imagined. Notice also that the figures are elongated and the space is compressed; this is why art historian of the time considered this to be 'primitive' art.
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| Master of the Saint Lucy Legend, active c. 1475-1505 Virgin and Child Enthroned with Angels, 1400-1500 FAMSF / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
The art that first interested the Pre-Raphaelites was so old that the artists could not always be identified. This painting is in the same style of another famous painting of the period, known as The Legend of St. Lucy, but the name of the artist is unknown. Here again, every detail is crisp, but the figures are elongated and the proportions are wrong; for instance, if the Virgin were to stand up, her head would bump the top of her throne.
Early Italian Art
The best known Italian artist before Raphael was probably Sandro Botticelli, and the exhibit offers some examples of his work; however, the paintings they show are not the ones that most influenced the Pre-Raphaelites. Botticelli's most important works are very large and never leave the Uffizi Museum in Florence. I'm going to bring in prints from the Internet to give you a better idea of what the Pre-Raphaelites liked.
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| Sandro Botticelli, 1445-1510 Primavera, c. 1480 Internet grab from Uffizi |
In this dreamy painting, Botticelli united the imagery of Christianity (the Virgin in the center, and the putti overhead) with the imagery of classical mythology (the three graces on the left), and other standard mythological figures in painting, such as Flora (the flower clad maiden on the right).
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| Sandro Botticelli, 1445-1510 The Birth of Venus, mid 1840s Internet grab from Uffizi |
Venus was the Goddess of Love, who arose fully formed from the sea. To her left the Wind Gods blow her ashore, and separate the strands of her luxuriant hair. On the right Flora welcomes her with a flowing robe. The edges are crisp, the forms are graceful, and details are evenly lighted throughout.
The exhibit did have one excellent example by Botticelli, but I accidentally failed to photograph it, so I'm including an internet grab; it also belongs to the Uffizi, but there are similar versions in two other museums.
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| Sandro Botticelli, 1445-1510 Madonna of the Magnificat, 1481 Internet grab from Uffizi |
Here we see the complex but balanced composition that Pre-Raphaelites admired, plus the crisp edges, the rich details, the graceful forms, and the rich coloration.
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| Sandro Botticelli, 1444-1510 Madonna and Child with Two Angels, c. 1470 Naples / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
This is a fairly conventional portrait of the Madonna, with rather dull coloration. The was not the kind of thing that inspired the Pre-haphaelites, but it does have graceful forms and a mystical mood.
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| Sandro Botticelli, 1444-1510 Idealized Portrait of a Lady (Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as Nymph), c. 1475 Städel Museum, Franfurt |
This type of idealized portrait, with its mystifyingly complicated hair arrangement, had a great deal of impact of the Pre-Raphaelites, some of whom specialized in idealized portraits.
One of the artists with a strong influence on the Renaissance was Domenico Ghirlandaio, a contemporary of Botticelli. Many artists got their training in his studio, including Michelangelo.
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| Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1449-1494 Portrait of a Man, c. 1490 Huntington Library / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
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| Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1449-1494 Portrait of a Woman, c. 1490 Huntington Library / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
Piero di Cosimo was admired by the Pre-Raphaelites for his carefully articulated, naturalistic details.
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| Piero di Cosimo, 1462-1521 Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist, c. 1510 Liechtenstein, the Princely Collection / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
The image of the Madonna resting on a stump in the wilderness, with a cloth strung from a tree to provide a little shade, is amusingly unassuming. The Christ child waves in a friendly fashion to his cousin, John, who later became known as the Baptist. The Madonna studies a book, presumably some holy work; perhaps she reads aloud to the two children, who are more interested in each other. The composition is balanced and the coloration is rich and jewel-like.
This is the style of portraiture that dominated Northern Europe in the early history of art. It is solemn, but bright and richly detailed.
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| Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1515-1586 Portrait of a Man, 1545 FAMSF / Jan's photo |
Ironically, as the so-called Pre-Raphaelites matured, they became interested in the artists of the late Renaissance, and even the Venetians, whose robust and sensual figures, dynamic compositions, and deep shadows are a far cry from the work of Piero di Cosimo, or even Botticelli.
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| Paolo Veronese, 1528-1588 Lucrezia, c. 1580 Kunsthistoriches, Vienna / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
Lucrezia was a heroine of Roman legend, who was an exemplar of honor and courage because she killed herself after she was raped. The Pre-Rapaelites liked the rich coloration of the Venetians and the idea of using a female figure to represent virtue.
The Founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
William Holman Hunt was a versatile artist who pursued various aspects of Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics over the course of a long career.
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| William Holman Hunt, 1827-1910 Valentine Reproaching Proteus for His Falsity, 1851 The Makins Collection / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
As part of a movement that was both literary and artistic, the PRB was initially devoted to illustrating medieval legends. This legend of Valentine as a medieval knight is not known to me, but the story is pretty clear: Valentine is in the center with the wronged damsel in a flowered apron kneeling on the ground, and Proteus on the right, also kneeling and hanging his head. The figure on the left is probably the knight's servant.
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| William Holman Hunt, 1827-1910 The Hireling Shepherd, c. 1853 The Makins Collection / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
This painting from two years later has a simple, beautifully balanced composition (with cultivation on the right and herding on the left), jewel-like tones, crisp details even the the distance, and an instantly readable narrative.
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| William Holman Hunt, 1827-1910 Henry Wentworth Monk, 1858 National Gallery, Ottawa / Jan's photo, 2018 |
This is a portrait of a Canadian mystic that Hunt met in Jerusalem. He is represented as a modern version of an Early European portrait, such as the example by Lucas Cranach the Younger, above. Notice that the mystic holds a rolled up copy of the London times, as well as a holy book.
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| William Holman Hunt, 1827-1910 Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1867 Private Collection / Jan's photo, 2018 |
Reflecting his devotion to poetry, Hunt here depicts a scene from a poem by John Keats, an English romantic poet of the previous generation. Isabella is mooning over this pot of basil because it contains the severed head of her murdered lover, a rather creepy idea to moderns. Hunt elaborated the idea by placing the pot on a richly inlaid altar topped by a gold brocade cloth. A pearlescent water pitcher sits below. Notice that far from being prim and formal, Isabella is a voluptuous figure, in a semi-transparent nightgown, much more like the heroines of Venetian painting.
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| William Holman Hunt, 1827-1910 Bianca, 1869 Worthing Museum / Jan's photo, 2018 |
Here Hunt goes for a full-blown tribute to the Venetian portraits of idealized women, abandoning complex composition and obscure stories. Bianca was a character in a play by Shakespeare, but who cares? She is the perfect modern realization of a Venetian ideal of beauty.
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| William Holman Hunt, 1827-1910 The Lady of Shalott, 1890s Wadsworth Atheneum / Jan's photo, 2018 |
Dante Gabriel Rossetti came from a literary family. His father was a Dante scholar, his sister Christina became a famous poet, and his brother William Michael was a member of the PRB who became an influential art critic. Dante Rossetti also established himself in the history of English poetry, but he chose painting as his profession because he thought it would make more money. He became quite successful as a painter, made a lot of money, and continued to write poetry as a pastime. Sometimes he wrote a poem to accompany a painting; sometimes he painted a picture to illustrate a poem.
Although Rossetti painted a variety of literary and medieval subjects, he had a complicated love life, and he became increasingly obsessed with painting a certain ideal type of woman—voluptuous but melancholy, dreamy and decadent. He used a variety of models as his muses, but he gave them all a similar look and attitude. Each of these women is supposed to represent a character in a certain literary work, but that's just an excuse; you don't really need to know the story to get the point.
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| Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-1882 Monna Vanna, 1866 Tate, London / Jan's photo, 2018 |
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| Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-1882 Lady Lilith, 1868 Delaware / Jan's photo, 2018 |
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| Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-1882 Veronica Veronese, 1872 Delaware / Jan's photo, 2018 |
John Everett Millais became the most prominent exponent of the PRB agenda, even though he moved toward greater realism in less than a decade. He was criticized for abandoning his principles, but his later paintings were very popular, and he became one of the wealthiest artists of his day.
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| John Everett Millais, 1829-1896 Mariana, 1851 Tate London / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
This painting from early in his career (he was 22) is the perfect embodiment of the Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic, using a jewel-tone palette and depicting a scene from a literary source. Mariana started as a character from Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure. Alfred, Lord Tennyson then wrote a poem about her. It seems she has been abandoned by her fiancé for lack of a dowry, and she is passing the time by making a tapestry at table near a window. When she stands to stretch her back, she is supposed to be saying, "My life is dreary—He cometh not!"
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| John Everett Millais, 1829-1896 The Ransom, 1862 Getty / Photo by Jan, 2018 |
The story in this painting is marvelously clear and its source is clearly literary. The knight in shining armor is ready to give precious jewels to the brigand on the right, for the return of two young girls, presumably his daughters. On the left side of the picture, a page or footman has the ransom note, and a fur rug to cover the girls for the carriage ride home. Between the knight and the brigand is a friend or supporter of the knight who has a bag of gold at hand.
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| John Everett Millais, 1829-1896 Leisure Hours, 1864 Getty / Jan's photo, 2018 |
Here again are two young girls, but this is a straight-forward portrait commission, with no narrative or medieval elements. It's possible there is some symbolism in the fishbowl, which seems out of place.
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| John Everett Millais, 1829-1896 Christ in the House of His Parents, c. 1866 Private collection / Jan's photo, 2018 |
The humble, naturalistic detail of this painting is appealing to the modern eye: the way Millais has imagined Joseph's workshop, with tools hanging on the wall, lumber stacked out back, and shavings littering the floor is charming. Joseph has two young helpers (possibly Jesus' siblings), and it looks like Mary's mother Anne is also helping, or perhaps just looking on. Jesus has been trying to help assemble the door, but he has driven a nail into his hand. Mary is comforting him with a kiss, as mothers do. Millais' interpretation of this situation in the New Testament was considered blasphemous by many of his' contemporaries because the characters looked too ordinary and familiar. The controversy made the painting very famous, but was divisive to the Pre-Raphaelites. I was struck by the herd of white cattle and sheep looking on with concern.
The Second Generation of Pre-Raphaelites
The second generation of Pre-Raphaelites includes John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, Edward Burne-Jones, and Burne-Jones' friend, the designer William Morris.
John Roddam Spencer Stanhope painted two of the most remarkable paintings in the exhibition.
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| John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, 1829-1908 Robins of Modern Times, c. 1860 Private collection / Jan's photo, 2018 |
This painting is so unusual it is nearly surreal. The central section is a dark blob, forcing your eyes around the perimeter. The landscape and rocks are exceptionally naturalistic. But why is this girl on the ground? Did she fall to the ground and drop her apples? Was she cavorting about the countryside wearing a floral wreath and paused for a nap or a daydream? There is a robin with a red breast in the lower right, who seems about to put a leaf on her; a dull-colored robin can barely be distinguished on the left, also taking a leaf her way. The title adds to the puzzlement—the painting is not really about robins, is it?
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| John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, 1829-1908 Love and the Maiden, 1877 FAMSF / Jan's photo, 2018 |
This painting is a perfect re-interpretation of Botticelli's aesthetic, as shown in Primavera and The Birth of Venus. The composition is balanced, the figures are graceful, the theme is mythical and romantic, every detail is carefully defined. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect is that Stanhope was able to use oil paint to imitate the effect of fresco and egg-tempera painting, techniques that Botticelli used himself.
Edward Burne-Jones was both an artist and a designer. He was a protege of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
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| Edward Burne-Jones, 1833-1898 The Heart of the Rose, 1889 Agnew's / Jan's photo, 2018 |
This painting seems very unpleasant to me because of the dark coloration and the way the green of the woman's dress blends into the bush. The story comes from a poem by Chaucer written in the Middle Ages. The black-robed figure on the left is supposed to be a pilgrim; the black-winged figure on the right represents Love, who has led him to the Rose, personified as a woman in a rose bush. That is too obscure for me.
Burne-Jones designed some beautiful tapestries that are part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco's excellent textile collection, one for Pomona and one for Flora. These are stock figures for decorative tapestries, with Pomona representing fruit and orchards and Flora representing flowers and springtime.
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| Edward Burne-Jones, 1833-1898 Pomona, 1886 FAMSF / Jan's photo, 2018 |
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| Edward Burne-Jones, 1833-1898 Flora, 1886 FAMSF / Jan's photo, 2018 |
William Morris was a textile designer who was closely associated with Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In 1861, these three artists and several others formed a decorative arts firm, which eventually became known as Morris & Co. This company manufactured and sold the tapestries designed by Burne-Jones. Below are two examples of tapestries designed by Morris himself. You may recognize these bold, repetitive patterns. This company still sells coveted wallpapers and fabrics.
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| William Morris, 1834-1896 Bird wall hanging, 1878 FAMSF / Jan's photo, 2018 |
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| William Morris, 1834-1896 Wandle, 1884 FAMSF / Jan's photo, 2018 |
Third Generation Pre-Raphaelites
Among the third generation of artists to become Pre-Raphaelites were three women: Marie Spartali Stillman, Evelyn De Morgan, and Kate Bunce. Although they came late to the movement, they showed particular affinity for its romantic and decorative aspects.
Marie Spartali Stillman first became known for her stunning good looks. She was the daughter of a wealthy Greek merchant based in London, and her Grecian features gave her an exotic look to the pale British; in addition, she was over six feet tall. She was well-known among the Pre-Raphaelites, who vied to use her as a model. But after her marriage to an American journalist, she became one of the most prolific and successful artists of the movement, though she lived in both Europe and the U.S. and raised six children.
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| Marie Spartali Stillman, 1844-1927 Love's Messenger, 1885 Delaware / Jan's photo, 2018 |
This painting creates the mood of romantic melancholy sought after by Pre-Raphaelites. The woman has just received a message carried by a white bird; she keeps corn kernels on her sill for it. She has been sitting by the window to work on a tapestry. The river comes right up to the window; does she live on an island? The river is a way of pointing into the distance, where her love lies. Stillman heightened the romance by softening the edges of her figures, and using fewer fussy details than the original Pre-Raphaelites.
Evelyn De Morgan was the niece and student of John Roddam Spencer Stanhope. She is considered a follower of Dante Gabrielle Rossetti, but instead of dark and sickly images of the ideal woman, her women are fair-haired, robust, and paying attention.
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| Evelyn De Morgan, 1850-1919 Flora, 1894 De Morgan Collection / Jan's photo, 2018 |
De Morgan's version of the stock figure of Flora, goddess of flowers, is closely related to the style of Botticelli, one of her favorite old masters. The figure's dress and stance are closely related to his Primavera, while her flowing hair recalls The Birth of Venus.
Kate Bunce was not directly connected with the Pre-Raphaelite set, which was mostly based in London. She was born and educated in Birmingham, an industrial town about halfway between London and Liverpool that had its own art academy, and even its own style. Although she did exhibit in London and all over England, as well as Birmingham, and had a successful career, she didn't achieve as wide recognition as the Londoners did. Also the Pre-Raphelite style seemed increasingly quaint in 20th century.
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| Kate Bunce, 1856-1927 Saint Cecilia, c. 1901 Private Collection / Jan's photo, 2018 |
The gorgeous robe—silken and golden—the gold leaf halo, the crisp edges and abundant detail are all expressive of Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics. Even the space is compressed vertically, like a painting by van Eyck. The head, however, looks very English, and the face shows concentration and determination, rather than the languid melancholy of the typical Pre-Raphelite idealized woman.
The Pre-Raphaelite school was essentially reactionary. They objected not only to conventional British painting but to modern life in general. They dreamed of an imaginary time when beauty reined supreme. But all those lonely ladies languishing in luxurious environments seem really irrelevant and quaint from the 21st century. The Pre-Raphaelites created some romantic effects in their work and it's fun to imagine the medieval world of knights and religion, but you can see why the French dominated art history in the 19th century. The French were looking outside the studio toward the real world, trying to capture the modern look, studying the effect of light and the nature of vision, and they embraced modernity, eagerly painting the newly built urban squares, railways, and bridges.
