Pre-Raphaelites, Victorian Avant-Garde

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I'm in London and recently went to see the extensive Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain, entitled Pre-Raphaelites, Victorian Avant-Garde. I’ve been a huge fan of this school since I was a teenager so it was a thrilling experience.  
I saw my favorite John Everett Millais painting, Ophelia “in person” for the first time and felt quite overwhelmed by the attention to detail, the vibrant quality of the color and the emotional connection it engenders. 
Ophelia is such a terribly tragic Shakespearean figure, driven out of her mind when her father is murdered by her lover Hamlet, she drowns herself in a stream. However, I couldn't help but think about Millais' poor model, Lizzie Siddal, lying in a bath filled with water for so many hours that she caught a bad cold. 


The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed in London in 1948 as a way to express the artists’ dissatisfaction with the drawing style being advocated by the Royal Academy Schools.

For them, it was too mechanical. The Brotherhood was initially made up of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman-Hunt and John Everett Millais.

They were later joined by the likes of Edward Burne-Jones, John Ruskin, Edward Burne-Jones, Frederick Sandys, Simeon Solomon, Ford Madox Brown and William Morris. Together they formed Britain’s first modern art movement. Some of the most famous and best-loved works are shown here. For more about The Pre-Raphaelites and their impact on fashion, go to Hall-Five.com Buzz

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Mariana: John Everett Millais 


Beguiling of Merlin: Edward Burne-Jones

The Lady of Shallot: John William Waterhouse




Monna Vanna by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Lady Lilith: Dante Gabrielle Rossetti

Beata Beatrix: Dante Gabriel Rossetti 


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