Pre-Raphaelitism, the style popularised by the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood from 1848, was a reaction to the academic traditions that saw Raphael as the ideal artist. It treated serious subjects with intensity and extreme realism. Early members included William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Its later phase, seen in the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, has a more mystical nature.
Rebels. Revolutionaries. Romantics. The Pre-Raphaelites wanted to create a new kind of art, fit for the purpose of a new world.
Their intention was to build on what they admired from the past, not just the Old Masters they were being taught about but a counter-culture of heroes. Their influences ranged from Quattrocento artists to the painters and writers of their own age.
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India Lewis
Andrew Shore
Thomas Dobson and Daniel Reed
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Eugenia Russell
Claire Stewart
Susan Foister
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Lydia Figes
