
The Pre-Raphaelite Movement
Started: 1848
Ended: 1890

Summary of The Pre-Raphaelite Movement
The Pre-Raphaelites opposed the dominance of the British Royal Academy, which championed a narrow range of idealized or moral subjects and conventional definitions of beauty drawn from the early Italian Renaissance and Classical art. In contrast, the Pre-Raphaelites took inspiration from an earlier (pre-Raphaelite - before the artist Raphael) period, that is, the centuries preceding the High Renaissance. They believed painters before the Renaissance provided a model for depicting nature and the human body realistically, rather than idealistically, and that collective guilds of medieval craftspeople offered an alternative vision of artistic community to mid-19th-century academic approaches.
Key Ideas

"Beauty without the beloved is like a sword through the heart," Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote. His emphasis upon ideal female beauty made him a maverick among the Pre-Raphaelites.
Important Art and Artists of The Pre-Raphaelite Movement The below artworks are the most important in The Pre-Raphaelite Movement - that both overview the major ideas of the movement, and highlight the greatest achievements by each artist in The Pre-Raphaelite Movement. Don't forget to visit the artist overview pages of the artists that interest you. | |
![]() ![]() | The Girlhood of Mary Virgin (1848-9)Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti Artwork description & Analysis: This painting by Rossetti was the first Pre-Raphaelite work to appear in public. It featured the secretive initials "PRB," indicating that the artist was a member of the newly established Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In the painting, the Virgin Mary appears at home with her mother, St. Anne, and an angel, while her father tends the garden outside the window. Oil on canvas - Tate, London |
![]() ![]() | Ecce Ancilla Domini! (The Annunciation) (1849-50)Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti Artwork description & Analysis: Rossetti's painting of the Annunciation is still mystifying viewers in the 21st century. The angel Gabriel's announcement to the Virgin Mary of her impending miraculous pregnancy is one of the most familiar and popular subjects in religious art, but Rossetti's interpretation of the moment is utterly singular and was criticized for its realism when it was first exhibited. Oil on canvas - Tate, London |
![]() ![]() | Ophelia (1851-2)Artist: John Everett Millais Artwork description & Analysis: Ophelia is arguably both John Everett Millais' masterpiece and the most iconic work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Painted when he was only 22 years old, Millais worked for months in the open air in the countryside, composing the background with painstaking detail. In addition to flowers and boughs, Millais included reeds, the muddy bank, and a water rat. Oil on canvas - Tate, London |
More The Pre-Raphaelite Movement Artwork and Analysis:

Content compiled and written by Anna Souter
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
" Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Anna Souter
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
Available from:
First published on 29 Jan 2019. Updated and modified regularly.
[Accessed ]