The Pre-Raphaelites were a group of young men and women in the mid-nineteenth century who went against the grain of conventional Victorian society. They fought against the current trends and thoughts of the society because they wished to return "theologically and aesthetically to the heraldic world of medieval Christendom" (Gurney,243). During this time, England was home to a school of artists who not only had a great impact on popular thought, but also on poetry and art. This impact included: interior design, church ornamentation, book binding, and common household furnishings. This "common" style was considered to be too "dull" and restricting; therefore the Pre-Raphaelite painters revived the fresco technique, a process that originally was used by early Italian painters that involves painting oils on wet plaster. The Pre-Raphaelites made a slight alteration, instead of painting on wet plaster they painted on a canvas that is prepared by a ground of white lead and varnish. Using this method, the pigments are heightened and brightened in coloration by this background.
This artistic style is said to be influenced by Carlo Lasinio of the Campo Santo frescoes in Pisa and painted by various masters of the early Renascence. "According to Hunt, both John Everett Millais and Gabriel Dante Rossetti were searching through the book of engravings, they found in them, freedom from corruption, pride and disease" (Faxon,46). "There was no trace of decline, no conventionality, no arrogance and whatever the imperfections, the whole spirit of the art was simple and sincere" (Faxon). These engravings are considered to be the catalyst of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, but the actual name for the Brotherhood came from a different source. According to Hunt "The name originated when he and a fellow student Millais, were criticizing Raphael's Transfiguration and other students proclaimed that they must then be the Pre-Raphaelites" (Faxon,45).
This designation was officially accepted in September, 1848 at the Millais family house. The founding members include William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Gabriel Dante Rossetti, James Collinson, W. M. Rossetti, F. G. Stephens, and Thomas Woolner. They founded the Brotherhood on the following principles:
1. To have genuine ideas to express.In other words, the Pre-Raphaelites did not produce "slosh" the ultimate Pre-Raphaelite condemnation. What they did produce was art and literature covering three areas of subject matter that include, "First, Christian doctrine and medieval life; Second, scenes from contemporary life, often expressing moral values founded on religious belief; and lastly, scenes from literature, particularly Shakespeare and other nineteenth century poets as Keats, Tennyson, Coventry Patmore, and Sir Henry Taylor" (Faxon, 47). Later on in 1856, a second, more poetic movement in the Pre-Raphaelite organization included new members: Christina Rossetti, William Morris, and Algernon Swinburne.
2. To study nature attentively, so as to know how to express them.
3. To sympathize with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parading and learned by rote.
4. And most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues. (Fredeman, 220-222)
In 1848, the revolution began as the Pre-Raphaelites formed. Some members became overtly political, while others like "D. G. Rossetti responded to the dominant social issues of his time" (Gurney, 243). These thoughts were published in the year of 1850 in a magazine called The Germ. It consisted of the collective works of art, literature, and social commentary authored by the various members of the Pre-Raphaelites, but unfortunately was short-lived, only six issues spanning January to May 1850. the most notable literary work was D. G. Rossetti's "The Blessed Damozel." During this time the Brotherhood also produced several paintings, the first of which was also painted by Rossetti called the Girlhood of Mary The Virgin.
They also published their comments and criticisms of other contemporary writers like Poe and of fellow Brotherhood members. For instance D. G. Rossetti's brother, W. M. Rossetti states that "his poems...were a deep delight in all these years," and that "The Raven is a classical bird that reached the English shore" (Moulton, 549, 552). Members published their literary comments of each other including William Hunt Holman's statement after a critique of Rossetti's paintings, "Art is so frequently tainted with canker of corruption that it is a revelation to find such work." (Moulton, 443)
Meanwhile as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was flourishing, a young woman unknowingly influenced a sort of "sisterhood" among the Pre-Raphaelites. It was founded "within the Pre-Raphaelite circle, where women found many encouraging, supportive young men, who were notable for their freedom from the overbearing chauvinism of their time...In the atmosphere of the artistic world they were freed from some restricting conventions imposed on their less fortunate sisters. They were able to pursue their own interests, develop friendships, and participate in a wide range of activities" (Riede, 45).
Elizabeth Sidal's influence on Rossetti begins as a model for Millais' Ophelia, where "she is dressed in a renaissance gown, lying flat in a tub full of water" (Faxon, 76). As Millais' model, she meets Rossetti, and after a long courtship they married. They continued to be supportive of each other's artistic efforts until the delivery of their stillborn child. Elizabeth then succumbed to despair and took her own life with an overdose of laudanum. At her funeral, Rossetti decided to bury his manuscripts with her; thereby ending his writing career and his involvement with the Pre-Raphaelites. He did, however, at a later date recover the manuscripts for publications.
Dissolution of the Pre-Raphaelites began in 1850 when James Collinson wrote a letter to Rossetti saying that he was leaving because "as a sincere Catholic he could no longer subscribe to the tenets of the Brotherhood" (Faxon, 71). The next member to leave was Thomas Woolner in 1854. He got discouraged, because of his lack of success as a sculptor. Millais left because he was elected Associate to the Royal Academy in 1853. Eventually, because of lack of participation, the Brotherhood was disbanded in 1857, when the last cooperative Pre-Raphaelite work "The Valley of Jehoshaphat" was published.
