Introduction
The term "Pre-Raphaelite" is often used to refer to a broad swath of Victorian Art, but actually refers to a specific group of artists who decided in 1848 to take on the rigid artistic conventions of London's Royal Academy of Art. Their rejection of the traditional made them a target for critics
Origins of the Brotherhood
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed in September of 1848 by James Collinson, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his brother William Michael Rossetti, Frederick George Stephens, and Thomas Woolner. Although the artist John William Waterhouse is often associated with the movement, he was never actually a member.
The group held regular meetings at John Everett Millais' home on Gower Street in London to discuss their ideas.[1] Although they differed on many of the finer points of art philosophy, the Brotherhood was bound together by their collective distaste for the works of Raphael, Titian and many of the other artists of the Renaissance, all of whom were highly praised by the newly formed Royal Academy of Art and its first president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, known as "Sir Sloshua" among the Pre-Raphaelites.[2] 
Lorenzo and Isabella, by John Everett Millais was the first Pre-Raphaelite paintings to include the initials P.R.B., seen engraved on the lower half of Isabella's stool. It was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1849.[3]
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was heavily influenced by Romanticism and medievalism. Collectively, the Pre-Raphaelites eschewed the Royal Academy's emphasis on convention and repetition.
The Germ
On January 1, 1850, the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood released the first issue of their periodical The Germ. The magazine was devoted to "thoughts towards nature" and included poetry and essays by members of the Brotherhood. William Michael Rossetti served as the editor. The magazine was, in the words of William Michael Rossetti, a "dedicated failure," [4] but in spite of its lack of success (only four issues were printed), the publication helped bring attention to the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
Central Tenets of Pre-Raphaelitism
The members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood ascribed to a basic philosophy of art that was meant to guide their endeavours. William Michael Rossetti, the secretary of the Brotherhood, recorded the groups goals as follows:
- 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.
More Information
Hawksley, Lucinda. Essential Pre-Raphaelites. Bath: Dempsey Parr, 1999.
The Last Romantics: The Romantic Tradition in British Art, Burne-Jones to Stanley Spencer. Edited by John Christian with essays by MaryAnne Stevens, JGP Delaney, Lindsay Errington, Benedict Read, Alan Powers and David Fraser Jenkins. London: Lund Humphries, 1989.
Hewison, Robert. Ruskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites. London: Tate Gallery Publishing Ltd., 2000.
Web Resources
The Germ: Thoughts Toward Nature in Literature, Poetry and Art at Project Gutenberg
The Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies http://www.yorku.ca/jprs/
The Rossetti Archive, The Complete Writings and Pictures of Dante Gabriel Rossetti http://www.rossettiarchive.org/
References
- Lucinda Hawksley, Essential Pre-Raphaelites(Bath
:Dempsey Parr, 1999), 6. - Robert Hewison, Ruskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites (London: Tate Gallery Publishing Ltd., 2000), 12.
- Lucinda Hawksley, Essential Pre-Raphaelites(Bath
:Dempsey Parr, 1999), 20. - William Michael Rossetti, introduction to a facsimile of The Germ, at
Project Gutenberg
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