Pre-Raphaelites

A society of young artists and writers, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in London in 1848 to rebel against the classical academic painting conventions of the day in favor of a meeting of medieval romanticism and new realism. Inspired by the theories of art critic John Ruskin, who urged artists to “go to nature,” Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, and other artists created works predominantly dealing with religious themes, love, death, and subjects from literature and poetry. Fully illustrated, this book is an accessible introduction to the popular movement.

Jason Rosenfeld is distinguished chair and associate professor of art History at Marymount Manhattan College.