Influences no. 3 ~ the Pre~Raphaelites

Another of the influences on my work is the art of the Pre~Raphaelite Brotherhood. I just love their paintings.I love the colours, the symbology, linking back to what I was saying about the symbology of flowers in my post http://rustyandboots.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/maybeltane-and-herald-of-spring.html

The themes they used included medieval culture, Arthurian legend and the works of poets such as Keats, Shelley, Dante and Thackery and the plays of Shakespeare, as in the painting below, Ferdinand Lured by Ariel, 1849, John Everett Millais. I also have an interest in medieval things, Arthurian legend and anything mythical, so their work is perfect for me. 

Ferdinand Lured by Ariel, 1849, John Everett Millais

The Pre~Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) was founded in 1848. Its three original members were Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. They had an intense dislike of the art that was fashionable at the time, the way it was taught at the Royal Academy. It had to be dark in tone and portray an image of the ideal and the PRB thought the subject matter was too grand and trivial. They wanted to revolt against that and go back to the kind of art that was done before the Renaissance, bringing in brighter colours, painting what was in front of them rather than an imagined ideal image, observing nature, painting it accurately and portraying simple subjects with seriousness and sincerity.

Autumn Leaves, 1856, John Everett Millais

This was their philosophy, as recorded by William Michael Rossetti:

1. To have genuine ideas to express;
2. To study nature attentively, so as to know how to express them;
3. To sympathise 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.

 The PRB was a secret society to begin with, wanting to create works of art which could change minds and inspire people. Their art was all about a truthfulness to nature; they painted outside to accurately reflect the trees, flowers and landscape as they were and tackled the social problems of the time, something other artists were ignoring.

Attention to detail was an important thing for them, as John Ruskin wrote:

"go to nature in all singleness of heart, rejecting nothing, selecting nothing and scorning nothing."

 

Ophelia, 1851-52, John Everett Millais

One of the most popular Pre~Raphaelite works is Ophelia by John Everett Millais (above) although other versions of Ophelia have been painted by Arthur Hughes in 1852 and John William Waterhouse in 1894. This of course, is from Hamlet by Shakespeare, portraying Ophelia drowning after Hamlet has killed her father. Again, everything in the painting is symbolic; the flowers all either mentioned in the play or chosen for their meaning, for example, the weeping willow = forsaken love; the nettles = pain; the daisies = innocence; the roses = youth, love and beauty; the poppy = sleep, death, remembrance and the forgetmenots are obvious. 

The bank and flowers around it were painted by a river in Ewell. Ophelia was painted from a model, Lizzie Siddal, in a bath. From what I remember when I was studying art in collage, the water in the bath was warm to begin with, but chilled after a while, so Lizzie Siddal was laying there freezing and caught a cold. She married Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1860 but unfortunately died in 1862 due to an overdose of laudanum. 

 

Midsummer Eve, c.1908, Edward Robert Hughes

The art of the PRB was not an immediate success. It went against everything the Royal Academy taught and people hated it. However, the leading art critic John Ruskin was persuaded to intervene and wrote two letters to The Times giving his support to the Pre~Raphaelites. After that (surprise, surprise) the art world and the public accepted the Pre~Raphaelite art and it went from strength to strength, becoming a huge part of Victorian culture (which just shows that those in 'authority' aren't always right, if someone doesn't like your art, someone else will and sometimes what's 'fashionable' can hinge on the opinion of just one person).

 

The Knight of the Sun, 1860, Arthur Hughes

The PRB gained a huge following with many artists taking on their ideas and ethics and they changed art forever, but due to the members beginning to go in different directions, the Brotherhood broke up. There was a second phase of Pre~Raphaelitism with their followers though, the original members meeting new artists and influencing them, joining with them to go down a new route using similar principles. 

 

Flaming June, c.1895, Frederic, Lord Leighton

The Pre~Raphaelites influenced much of the art that came after them and although their work went out of fashion after the First World War due to the beautiful images being so opposite to the realities of war and the hardships people faced at that time, it had a revival in the 1960s. I'm so glad it did.

 

The Lady of Chalot, 1888, John William Waterhouse

Night, c.1880-85, Edward Robert Hughes

One of my absolute favourite paintings is Mariana, painted by John Everett Millais in 1851 (below). I love the deep colours, the red of her stool and in the window, the deep midnight blue of her dress, then the candle hanging up on the right, a point of light surrounded by shadow, the browning leaves scattered around.

 

Mariana, 1851, John Everett Millais

It was inspired by the poem Mariana by Tennyson, which in turn was inspired by the character Mariana in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Her dowry was lost in a shipwreck and she was rejected by her fiance Angelo. She still loves him and longs to be with him but the withered leaves suggest time is moving on and she is getting older. She is separated from the world outside and alone in her house. It is beautiful in its sense of melancholy and wistfulness.

When I discovered the Pre~Raphaelites, the colour, imagery and subjects were like a revelation, as all I'd seen before were the Renaissance type art works and, to be honest, they seemed a little dull and high-brow at the time. The Pre~Raphaelites depicted things I had an interest in and created works that I could look at for ages. I like their rebellious nature ~ making the art they wanted to create, not what those in 'authority' said they should be doing. They created their own path and that, for me, is a hugely inspiring thing.


You can see more about the Pre~Raphaelites at: The Tate , victorianweb.org , preraphaelitesisterhood.com