Pre-Raphaelite Painting and Nineteenth-Century Realism
Pre-Raphaelite Painting and Nineteenth-Century Realism
Out of Print
This book reconsiders and revises our understanding of Pre-Raphaelite painting: its philosophy of art, its sources, its cohesiveness, and its relationship to the broader context of contemporary European Realism. Challenging several long-standing beliefs about the movement, which is often characterized as a disparate group who pursued divergent, even antithetical goals, Marcia Werner proposes that the Pre-Raphaelites developed and shared an artistic philosophy comprehensive enough to embrace all of their differences. Werner reconstructs this credo through careful study of writings by Pre-Raphaelite artists. She also examines unexplored and neglected contemporary intellectual and philosophical sources, particularly those of J. S. Mill and Thomas Carlyle, whose work is shown to be critical to an understanding of Pre-Raphaelite painting. Supporting her ideas through sustained analyses of key works, the author also argues that John Ruskin's importance to the Pre-Raphaelites has been misunderstood and overstated.
- Establishes a comprehensive theory of early Pre-Raphaelite art
- Identifies Pre-Raphaelitism as a distinctly English expression of Realism, reflecting British artistic and philosophical heritage
- Uncovers previously neglected sources for early Pre-Raphaelite art, and re-evaluates the purported contribution of John Ruskin
Reviews & endorsements
' … this is a fascinating book, which is argued very convincingly because it is so carefully based on empirical research and primary sources … Werner's arguments will probably stand the test of time.' The Art Book
'It is already proving a stimulating addition to my students bibliographies and must become essential reading for scholars, students and lay enthusiasts alike - anyone interested in the thought, art or culture of nineteenth-century Europe.' True Principles
Product details
March 2005Hardback
9780521824682
300 pages
254 × 182 × 24 mm
0.825kg
58 b/w illus.
Unavailable - out of print July 2016
Table of Contents
- Part I. Theory:
- 1. Received opinion
- 2. John Ruskin
- 3. Modern Painters I: The theoretic faculty
- 4. Modern Painters II: the imaginative faculty
- 5. Ruskin's Pre-Raphaelitism
- 6. Pre-Raphaelite assessment of Ruskin's influence
- 7. The Germ
- 8. William Michael Rossetti: history and time in Pre-Raphaelite art
- 9. The interconnection of sacred and secular in Pre-Raphaelitism
- 10. William Michael Rossetti's review articles
- 11. John Stuart Mill: utilitarianism and the British Empire
- 12. Thomas Carlyle and The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine
- Part II. Practice:
- 13. The shared vision of Pre-Raphaelite realism
- 14. Dante Gabriel Rossetti and French realism
- 15. Dante Gabriel Rossetti: realism in early Pre-Raphaelite poetry
- 16. Hand and Soul and St. Agnes of Intercession
- 17. Dante Gabriel Rossetti: paintings and drawings
- 18. Found
- 19. John Everett Millais
- 20. William Holman Hunt
- 21. The Lady of Shalott
- 22. May Morning on Magdalen Tower
- 23. Ford Madox Brown
- 24. Work and Cromwell on his Farm.
