The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was an artistic society founded in 1848 that John Ruskin famously defended, made up of authors, poets and painters alike. He was highly-involved with the organization and his writing of Modern Painters, especially in the later volumes, both mention and influence their ideals. Their aim as a brotherhood was to impact the artistic scene of their time by returning to Renaissance Era (and Medieval) artistic tradition and visual representation. Hence why they were called “Pre-Raphael”. Subjects that they were drawn to in particular were Christian religious scenes and true-to-life landscapes, of which Ruskin was a particular fan. His stance on the brotherhood swung both in positive and negative directions over the course of the movement’s lifespan, and he did not always agree with the organization’s aims, but he was close with some of the founders. Portraiture of Ruskin created by founder of the brotherhood John Everett Millias is well-preserved and often used alongside photographs to portray Ruskin as he was in life.
Visually, the group was concerned with representing the real world and biblical scenes with minute detail and realism. They were also advocates for making art because it was art, rather than for use as a political tool. Many of their works expressed concern about Victorian society and morality. Later, as the group lost traction and eventually dissolved, many of the members leaned into the Arts & Crafts movement that celebrated “decorative” arts, such as textiles and jewelry. You will note that in Modern Painters, Ruskin denounces decorative art and language, comparing it to the varnish or frame of a painting, rather than the content itself, but also states that “it is not by the mode of representing and saying, but by what is represented and said, that the respective greatness either of the painter or the writer is to be finally determined” which hints he was open to their ideas, despite the initial unpopularity of the old art styles that they revived, because of the intellectuality behind it.
Some relevant members of this brotherhood included painter John Everett Millais, who painted the same Mariana that stars in Tennyson’s poem (and later married Ruskin’s ex-wife), and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whose sister wrote Goblin Market. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood had members well-versed in writing, sculpture, poetry and other media in order to create and influence a large span of artistic forms with their ideologies.
Image Information:
CREATOR: Millais, John Everett, Sir, 1829-1896
TITLE: John Ruskin
DATE: 1854
MEDIUM: oil
MEASUREMENTS: 79x68cm
Further Readings:
Meagher, Jennifer. “The Pre-Raphaelites.” The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, 1 Jan. 1AD, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/praf/hd_praf.htm.
Payne, Christiana. “John Constable, John Ruskin, and the Pre-Raphaelites.” The British Art Journal, vol. 16, no. 1, 2015, pp. 78–87. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24914016. Accessed 15 Sept. 2023.
Roe, Dinah. “The Pre-Raphaelites.” British Library, 15 May 2014, www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-pre-raphaelites.