Desperate Romantics? The Pre-Raphaelites and their Reputation

Overview

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood are the most celebrated group of painters to emerge in Victorian Britain, championed by some as avant garde, dismissed by others as the lowest form of kitsch, and celebrated often as much for their supposedly raucous private lives. This module will examine the mythology that surrounds the PRB and their work. Where did this reputation come from, how was it fostered in the nineteenth century, and what did their contemporaries make of the PRB and their art works? It will introduce you to the development of Pre-Raphaelite art, from the original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s adherence to ‘truth to nature’, through to Rossetti’s sensual representation of women, the work of the Pre-Raphaelite ‘sisters’, and culminating in the Aesthetic masculinities of Simeon Solomon and Edward Burne-Jones. It will also examine the critical reception of Pre-Raphaelitism, from early journalistic attacks by Charles Dickens and others; to Robert Buchanan’s assault on Rossetti and the Aesthetic poets in the ‘fleshly school’ controversy of the 1870s, and the later caricaturing of the (PRB) in the public press by parodists such as Max Beerbohm.

Aims

By the end of the module students should have acquired the following:

• An in depth knowledge of Pre Raphaelite artwork and the ability to analyse these works in relation to their social, political and historical context
• A clear sense of the range of different approaches within the field of Pre Raphaelite studies, and how this relates to wider art historical discourse
• Skills in constructing arguments based upon findings in nineteenth-century and secondary sources, through presentations, seminar discussions and independent reading