Art Talk: Pre-Raphaelites at the Tate Britain

When I posted about the Tate Britain Hive account@holoz0r told me how much he likes the Pre Raphaelites. While in England I took four classes at Cambridge and one was called Painting the City: 19th- century London and we studied a little about the Pre Raphaelites.

London in 1848 was industrial with factories, pollution, telegraph (1840s), Colonial Trade and concerns about the water supply. This is the environment in which the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood started at 83 Gower Street in London and lasted for 5 years, until 1853.

The 3 main artists are Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt. They were in their early 20s and wanted to push back at how art was taught and made. They decided to take inspiration from artist before Raphael or before the Renaissance, a time when painting was more individual and detailed. Think Van Eyck. They painted stories from the Bible, Shakespeare and medieval poetry with real people and places.

John Everett Millais

One of the most famous paintings at the Tate Britain and of the Pre Raphaelites is Ophelia. It is a picture of a scene of Shakespeare's play Hamlet. We learned that the model laid in a bathtub in the dress so Millias could get the exact feeling. Millais also went on location and painted the plants and they are so precise that they can easily be identified.

John Everett Millais
Ophelia, 1851-52
Tate Britain, London, England

John Everett Millais
Christ in the House of His Parents, 1849-1850
Tate Britain, London, England

This painting was met with a lot of criticism for showing the body of Joseph in such a realistic way, with long muscled arms with tan lines. Also Mary with red hair which is associated with Mary Magdalene and prostitution.

The group of artists was wanting to paint individualism vs idealized beauty. There is also a lot of symbolism in their pictures, including this one. The sheep representing Christ as the lamb of God or even as the good shepherd. The wood of the cross. Mary is consoling the young Joseph because he got hurt in the palm of his hand.

William Holman Hunt

I chose this picture by Hunt because I was going to be going to the coast of England later in the trip. The plague for the picture indicates:

This work is one of the first Pre-Raphaelite pictures to be created outside in open air, rather than in a studio. Hunt took nearly 5 months to paint it.

William Holman Hunt
Our English Coasts, 1852
Tate Britain, London, England

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti
The Annunciation, 1849-50
Tate Britain, London, England

I am very drawn to Annunciation pictures. This is a very interesting one, it has a lot of the usual symbolism with the halos, flowers, and white.

There are also some striking differences, like the look and body language of Mary crouching in on her bed.

I also learned that the artist's sister Christina was a poet and is the model for Mary.

John William Waterhouse

The Lady of Shallot is a beautiful work by John William Waterhouse. He was baptized the year after the pre Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed. So while not in the initial group he did embrace their style and subject.

John William Waterhouse
The Lady of Shalott, 1888
Tate Britain, London, England

The details in this painting are incredible. Especially the tapestry and candles. It is a picture of a 19th century poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Sources:
Telegraph
John William Waterhouse
(Christina Rosetti Good Friday](https://www.stjames-cathedral.org/PoemoftheWeek/rossetti-goodfriday.aspx)