Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood facts for kids

Proserpine, 1874, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, with Jane Morris as model

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (often called PRB or just Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English artists. They were painters, poets, and art critics. The group started in 1848.

The main members were William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens, and Thomas Woolner. They formed a "Brotherhood" of seven. Other artists like Ford Madox Brown and Edward Burne-Jones also shared their ideas.

This group wanted to bring back the detailed, colorful, and complex art style from early Italian Renaissance artists (before Raphael). They didn't like the art that came after Raphael and Michelangelo. They felt that Raphael's style had made art too formal and less natural. That's why they called themselves "Pre-Raphaelite," meaning "before Raphael." They even made fun of Joshua Reynolds, a famous artist, calling him "Sir Sloshua." They thought his art was messy and too ordinary.

The Pre-Raphaelites believed art should show real life and tell a story. They wanted to change art and even published a magazine called The Germ to share their ideas. The Brotherhood stayed together for about five years.

How the Group Started

Illustration by Holman Hunt for a poem, published in The Germ, 1850

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood began in 1848. It started at John Millais's parents' house in London. The first painters there were John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt. Hunt and Millais were art students. Rossetti became a student of Ford Madox Brown in 1848.

Rossetti also loved poetry and wanted to connect art with Romantic poems. Soon, four more members joined the group. These were painters James Collinson and Frederic George Stephens, Rossetti's brother William Michael Rossetti (who was a poet and critic), and sculptor Thomas Woolner. This made the Brotherhood seven members strong.

Ford Madox Brown was asked to join, but he stayed independent. Still, he supported the group and wrote for their magazine. The Brotherhood wanted to keep their group a secret from the main art school, the Royal Academy.

What They Believed

William Michael Rossetti wrote down the group's main beliefs. They had four key ideas:

• To have real and important ideas to show in their art.
• To study nature very carefully to learn how to show these ideas.
• To like art that was honest, serious, and heartfelt, not art that was just fancy or copied from others.
• Most importantly, to create truly good paintings and sculptures.

These rules were not strict. The group wanted each artist to be free to find their own ideas and ways of painting. They were inspired by the Romantic movement, which valued freedom.

They also loved medieval times. They thought medieval art had a special, honest feeling that was lost later on. This love for medieval art sometimes clashed with their goal of showing nature exactly as it was.

Later, the group split a bit. Hunt and Millais focused more on realism, showing things exactly as they looked. Rossetti and his followers, like Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, focused more on medieval stories and spiritual ideas. But both sides still believed art was about spiritual meaning, not just showing everyday life.

The Pre-Raphaelites were very influenced by nature. They painted with amazing detail. They used bright, clear colors on a white canvas. They wanted their colors to be as bright as jewels, like the art from the 1400s in Italy. They didn't like the dark, muddy colors used by some older British artists.

In 1848, Rossetti and Hunt made a list of their "Immortals." These were artists and writers they admired, like John Keats and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Their works often became subjects for Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

First Art Shows and Books

The first Pre-Raphaelite artworks were shown in 1849. Millais's Isabella and Holman Hunt's Rienzi were shown at the Royal Academy. Rossetti's The Girlhood of Mary Virgin was shown at another exhibition. All the Brotherhood members signed their art with their name and "PRB."

From January to April 1850, the group published a magazine called The Germ. William Rossetti edited it. It had poems by the Rossettis, Woolner, and Collinson. It also had essays about art and literature. The magazine didn't last long, but it helped share their ideas.

How They Influenced Art

Medea by Evelyn De Morgan, 1889, in an older style

Many artists were influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. These included John Brett, Arthur Hughes, and Evelyn De Morgan. Ford Madox Brown is often seen as someone who followed their ideas very closely. Aubrey Beardsley was also influenced, especially by Burne-Jones.

After 1856, Dante Gabriel Rossetti became a key figure for the medieval side of the movement. He connected the nature-focused art with the story-telling, romantic art. Rossetti started painting women known as "femme fatales" (mysterious, charming women). He used models like Jane Morris for paintings such as Proserpine.

His work influenced his friend William Morris. Morris started a company called Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. that made designs for homes. Ford Madox Brown and Edward Burne-Jones also joined this company. Through Morris's company, the Pre-Raphaelites' ideas influenced interior design and architecture. This led to the Arts and Crafts movement, which focused on handmade items and medieval designs.

After 1850, Hunt and Millais moved away from directly copying medieval art. They focused more on the realistic and scientific parts of the movement. Hunt still believed art had spiritual meaning. He even traveled to Egypt and Palestine to make his Bible paintings very accurate. Millais, however, stopped being a Pre-Raphaelite after 1860. He started painting in a looser, broader style.

The Pre-Raphaelites also had a big impact in Scotland. Artists like William Dyce and Joseph Noel Paton were influenced. James Archer painted scenes from the Arthurian legends.

The movement influenced many British artists into the 1900s. Rossetti's work also inspired the wider European Symbolist movement.

The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has a famous collection of Pre-Raphaelite art. Some people believe this collection strongly influenced J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's own group of friends, the TCBS, saw themselves as similar to the Pre-Raphaelites.

Arthur Hughes, Fair Rosamund, 1854

In the 1900s, art changed. After the First World War, Pre-Raphaelite art was not valued as much. Critics thought it was too emotional or old-fashioned. But in the 1960s, interest in Pre-Raphaelite art came back. Many exhibitions showed their work again.

Later groups like the Brotherhood of Ruralists and the Stuckists have also found inspiration from the Pre-Raphaelites.

Main Artists

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Other Important Artists and People

Art and Stories

Many Pre-Raphaelite artists, like Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and William Holman Hunt, worked in different art forms. They painted, illustrated books, and sometimes wrote poetry. At the time, many people thought literature (like books and poems) was better than painting.

But the Pre-Raphaelites wanted to make painting important again. They believed every picture should tell a story. This helped connect painting and literature more closely.

They also made illustrations for books. Pre-Raphaelite illustrations were not just simple pictures. They were like paintings within a book, telling their own story alongside the text.

Where to See Their Art

William Holman Hunt, The Hireling Shepherd, 1851

You can find large collections of Pre-Raphaelite art in museums in the United Kingdom. Some of these are the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Tate Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Outside the UK, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Delaware Art Museum in the US have important collections. The Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico also has famous works, including Sir Edward Burne-Jones' The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon and Frederic Lord Leighton's Flaming June.

There are also Pre-Raphaelite murals (wall paintings) in the Old Library at the Oxford Union. These show scenes from the Arthurian legends. They were painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and Edward Burne-Jones between 1857 and 1859.

Kelmscott Manor was the country home of William Morris. It is now open to the public. This house appears in Morris's novel News from Nowhere. It's also in the background of Water Willow, a painting of Morris's wife, Jane Morris, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Images for kids

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  James Archer, The Death of King Arthur, c. 1860

See Also

In Spanish: Hermandad Prerrafaelita para niños