Jordan Cleek July 14 2013

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group young painters who made it their mission to stand up against the Royal Academy who sought to strive for solemnity, seriousness, and significance in the world of art. They banded together in 1848 and chose their name sake after the High Renaissance prior to Raphael, when they felt art was at its prime. The PreRaphaelite founders were all under the age of twenty-five and included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Homan Hunt, and John Everett Millais. They hope to create a new age for art, and they had five goals in mind: questioning and challenging all conventions of art (pyramidal groupings, one major light source, tenebrism), emphasize precise renderings to ensure photo realism in even the most insignificant of objects in the composition, find muse in new subjects, embody all art such as music and writing, and transform the rigidity of realism(Landow). However, not everyone thought this was an altruistic movement (The Met). The works of the Pre-Raphaelites met with critical opposition to their pietism, archaizing compositions, intensely sharp focus which, with an absence of shadows, flattened the depicted formsand the stark coloration they achieved by painting on a wet white ground. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood caught my attention due to my love of en plein air compositions. Their devotedness to botanical detailing and minute preciseness is remarkable, but their saturated color is what really reels me into the composition. The pieces below are by the original founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Each piece has this intense coloring that brings the painting to life. Even the scape goat that is in the middle of a winder scene has majestic purple mountains in the background. The other pieces, the chose in color is much more exuberant. These pieces are powerfully precise and are excellent examples of what the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood were trying to accomplish.
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Jordan Cleek July 14 2013

Works of Art : John Everett Millias

Ophelia
oil on canvas 30 in x 44 in

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Jordan Cleek July 14 2013

Works of Art : William Holman Hunt

The Scape Goat

oil on canvas 33 in x 55 in

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Jordan Cleek July 14 2013

Works of Art : Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Lady Lilith
oil on canvas 38 in x 33.5 in

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Jordan Cleek July 14 2013

Works Cited
"Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." The Pre-Raphaelites. Metropolitan Museum of Art., n.d. Web. 23 July 2013.

Landow, George P. "Pre-Raphaelites: An Introduction." Pre-Raphaelites: An Introduction. Brown University, n.d. Web. 23 July 2013.

"Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 23 July 2013.

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