The Pre Raphaelites

The Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in 1848 by  John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt. All members of the Brotherhood had to submit to four vows which were the bases of all their art. These vows were:

“To have genuine ideas to express;

To study Nature attentively, so as to know how to express them;

To sympathise with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, 

To the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parodying and learned by rote;

And, most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues.”  

(via: http://preraphaelitesisterhood.com/what-is-pre-raphaelite-art/)

Proserpine, D.G.Rosseti (source)

Most Pre-Raphaelite work deals with themes from myth, legend or poetry. Their artistic styles varied little throughout the society’s exsistence.

Many works by the Pre-Raphaelites evoke an aura of permanence. Their paintings do not focus on dated themes such as street scenes. Their subjects were characters whose stories are still read today.

Boreas, J.W.Waterhouse (source)

Their subjects’ poses are more often than not, do not give the impression of excessive motion. In Prosperpine by Dante Gabriel Rosseti the subject, Proserpine seems to have been caught in a pensive moment. She does not maintain the regal appearence ancient Gods and Goddesses are usually portrayed with. The casualness of her pose evokes a sense of familiarity, it makes the viewer feel they are looking at a rendition of a familiar person.

from "Like a Painting" by MIles Aldridge (source)

The work Pre-Raphaelites still is a major source of inspiration for anyone working in the arts field. This can be seen very clearly on the cover of David Bowie’s album, The Man who Sold the World and the Like a Painting photoshoot with Lily Cole by Miles Aldridge which was shot for Vogue Italia in 2005. These modern interpretations just further prove that the Pre-Raphaelites had created a style which will not become leave us anytime soon. 

Album cover for "The Man who sold the World" by David Bowie (source)