The Pre-raphaelites: Inspiration from the Past

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed in 1848--a year of numerous uprisings in Europe--in order to reintroduce the high principles and innocence of Renaissance art as practiced prior to the master Raphael. The three most important members of this at first tightly knit group were Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and William Holman Hunt. Other artists took up the Pre-Raphaelite cause prominent among these were Edward Burne-Jones, and William Morris, whose singularly recognizable style would greatly influence future aesthetic design. Illustrated with 100 full-color reproductions, this volume reveals how this influential group succeeded in shaking off the gloom of the Victorian age to greet a new day with uncommonly fresh eyes.