PRE-RAPHAELITES

• Pre-Raphaelites-a group of 19th-century English painters, poets, and critics who reacted against Victorian materialism and the neoclassical conventions of academic art by producing earnest, quasi-religious works. The group was inspired by medieval and early Renaissance painters up to the time of the Italian painter Raphael.

HistoryThe Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

was established in 1848.

Founders and their Works

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), English poet and painter who was a leading member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood devoted to reviving English art through medieval inspiration.

“Proserpine”

“The Girlhood of Virgin Mary”

Sir John Everett Millais (1829-96), English painter, born in Southampton, and educated in art at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

“Christ In The House Of His Parents”

“Ophelia”

William Holman Hunt (1827-1910)

“The Return of the Dove to the Ark”

“The Hireling Shepherd”

“The Finding of the Savior in the Temple”

The Brotherhood's early doctrines were expressed in four declarations

• to have genuine ideas to express• to study Nature attentively, so as to know how to

express them• to sympathize with what is direct and serious and

heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parodying and learned by rote

• most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

• James Collinson (painter) • William Holman Hunt (painter) • John Everett Millais (painter) • Dante Gabriel Rossetti (painter, poet) • William Michael Rossetti (critic) • Frederic George Stephens (critic) • Thomas Woolner (sculptor, poet)

THE FOUR STEPS IN ART CRITICISM

Describe - what things are in the painting? Think of things like clothing, environment, etc.

Analyze - how are the elements of art (line, shape, form, texture, space, color and value) are used? How are the principles of unity pattern, rhythm, variety, balance, emphasis and proportion used?

Interpret - what is the artist trying to say to you? What is going on in the picture or artwork?

Judgement- What do I think about this artwork? Do I like it? Why or why not?

DESCRIBING ANALYZING INTERPRETING JUDGING

Subjects:•People•Animals•Objects•Scenes or events

Information: (credit line)•Title•Artist•Year it was created•Size•Location

Elements:•Colors•Value•Shapes•Forms•Lines•Texture•Space

Principles:•Unity pattern•Rhythm•Balance•Variety•Emphasis•Proportion

Content:•The artist’s statement•Meaning of the work•How do you relate to the painting?•Why did the artist create the artwork?