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The Pre-Raphaelites

The Victorian avant-garde

The Pre-Raphaelites were the first European avant-garde
Avant-garde is how modern art critics refer the general trend of new artistic directions that arose in world art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. A very thin line separates it from the concept of “modernism”. Read more
artists who protested against еру wigs and powder of the classical portraiture school; they praised naturalness, romantics, and Shakespearean beauty.


The Pre-Raphaelites
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, referred to both in art and literature of the second half of the 19th century, that was founded as a protest against the prudish traditions of Victorian England.
The name "Pre-Raphaelites" refers to their respect for the Florentine artists of the early Renaissance
The Renaissance is the period that began around the 14th century and ended at the late 16th century, traditionally associated primarily with the Italian region. The ideas and images of the Renaissance largely determined the aesthetic ideals of modern man, his sense of harmony, measure and beauty. Read more
active "before Raphael": Perugino, Giovanni Bellini, Fra Angelico.
The Pre-Raphaelites revered clean bright colors, especially red and juicy green, the color of the lake water and herbs. The silhouettes of people on their canvases are floating, they have something of the saints on their faces, the hair is dissolved. The female subjects in their works look like the ladies of the knights: light-skinned, with long golden hair, dainty elongated silhouettes, big eyes, and flowing dresses.
John Everett Millais. Ophelia
Ophelia
1852, 76.2×111.8 cm

Inspired by Shakespeare

Like the early Renaissance
The Renaissance is the period that began around the 14th century and ended at the late 16th century, traditionally associated primarily with the Italian region. The ideas and images of the Renaissance largely determined the aesthetic ideals of modern man, his sense of harmony, measure and beauty. Read more
artists, they mostly painted religious scenes and portraits of beautiful women, often on the background of landscapes. Finally, the public fell in love with the Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and this was because of the Shakespearean motives. The most popular one is "Ophelia" by John Everett Millais (1852), who remains one of the most beloved artists in England.
To distinguish the Pre-Raphaelites from the artists of the Renaissance
The Renaissance is the period that began around the 14th century and ended at the late 16th century, traditionally associated primarily with the Italian region. The ideas and images of the Renaissance largely determined the aesthetic ideals of modern man, his sense of harmony, measure and beauty. Read more
, it is necessary to pay attention to the brightness of the paintings: the Pre-Raphaelite colors were richer, and their paintings preserved better. It is noticeable that they were painted in the 19th century.
As the Italian inspirers of the past, the Pre-Raphaelites have paid a lot of attention to the symbol

As the Italian inspirers of the past, the Pre-Raphaelites have paid a lot of attention to the symbols painted from real life. For example, in the faces of the subjects of Millais’s "Isabella," the traits of the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood can be traced.

The close relationship in the Brotherhood

The relationships in the Brotherhood were close, almost familial: the artists often fell in love with the sisters of their comrades. James Collinson had some engagement to Rossetti’s sister Christina. Dante Rossetti met his future wife, the poetess Elizabeth Siddal, in the Millais' studio ("Ophelia" was painted from her). The poetess was a constant model of many Pre-Raphaelites. She featured prominently in Rossetti’s early female portraits, such as "Paolo and Francesca da Rimini", "Dantis Amor" ("Dante's Love"), "Dante's Vision of Rachel and Leah".
Recommended artworks:
Yuri Valentinovich Zorko. Noon in Crimea
Noon in Crimea
2000-th , 60×62 cm
$541.00
Original
Edward Potashev. The Way
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The Way
2024, 85×25 cm
Nina Rassen. "Cosmic Xalaharias All Legends of the Universe."
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"Cosmic Xalaharias All Legends of the Universe."
2023, 2000×3000 cm
€200.00
Digital copy
Gennady Nikolayevich Zhikharev. Tree Man
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Tree Man
08.03.1989, 127×67 cm
$20.00
Original
Vladimir Sergeevich Barkov. PENTATONICS
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PENTATONICS
February 2022, 130×160 cm
$10,839.00
Original

The most famous paintings

— John Everett Millais "Ophelia", 1852. It was one of the first works on Shakespearean motives, after which the style was widely recognized by British public.
— John Everett Millais "The Vale of Rest", 1858−1859, Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom.
— John William Waterhouse "The Lady of Shallot", 1888, Tate Britain, London, UK. It is one of his most famous works, the epitome of the style of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
— John William Waterhouse "Hylas and the Nymphs", 1896
— William Holman Hunt "The Lady of Shallot", 1905.

Here's the story!


British TV drama serial "Desperate Romantics" describing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was noted by critics for the actors and the artist-dresser's work.