Love, Desire, Nature, Poetry, Myth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelite Movement

Wed Oct 02 2019

From 19 June to 6 October 2019 Palazzo Reale Museum (Milano, Italy) is presenting a collection of Pre-Raphaelite critically acclaimed pieces, including artworks on loan from the Tate (London, UK), such as Ofelia of John Everett Millais (1829-1896), April Love of Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) and Lady of Shalott of John William Waterhouse (1849-1917). The exhibition is organized through different thematic sections, in order to explore the objectives and ideals of that movement, the styles of the various artists, the importance of the graphic element and the spirit of collaboration that, in the context of applied arts, was a fundamental element of pre-Raphaelitism.


Left: Arthur Hughes, April Love, 1855-1856; Right: John William Waterhouse, Lady of Shalott, 1888

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848-54): William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), John Everett Millais (1829-1896) represent the first part of the period with the rediscovering of the Italian Gothic architecture, the love of nature, the beauty of the body and soul, religious, medieval, Dantesque and Shakespearean themes and the interrelation of art and literature.

Love, desire, nature, poetry, myth and beauty are well represented by the Pre-Raphaelite artists and are the inspiration points of the paintings of the Nineteenth century in England.

Frederic George Stephens, The Proposal (The Marquis and Griselda), 1850

The three founders were then joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner giving birth to the seven-member “brotherhood”. F.G.Stephens, dissatisfied with his own works, destroyed almost all of them. "The Proposal" here depicted is his only painting to have survived and like many works of the period, it explores love across classes.

Following the dissolution of the Brotherhood in 1853, Rossetti and his followers led a second “Aesthetic” phase of Pre-Raphaelism, exploring the connection between design, art and music, characterized by a revived enthusiasm for High Renaissance artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Titian.

Left: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Monna Pomona, 1864; Right: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Monna Vanna, 1866

Monna Pomona and Monna Vanna are some of the examples. The first is the model Ada Vernon, as a Renaissance beauty with hair loose, dressing or undressing, in a private space surrounded by the scent and softness of flowers and the heaviness of the drapery. Pomona refers to the Roman goddess of orchards and fruits. The second is an investigation of the sensual beauty of the model Alexa Wilding and her sumptuous accessories that could be associated with the imaginary portrait of Monna who appears in the work of Dante and Boccaccio.


Left: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Beata Beatrix, 1864-70; Right: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Roman de la Rose, 1864

Dante was a Rossetti’s inspiration also for Beata Beatrix (1864-70) or Roman de la Rose (1864).

Later, their principles were shared with Robert Braithwaite Martineau (1826-1869) and with Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893), Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) and Marie Spartali Stillman (1844-1927). Frank Cadogan Cowper (1877-1958) prolonged the last phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement until after the mid-twentieth century, taking the material rendering of the fabrics, draperies and long hair to an extreme. John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829-1908) was part of the second generation of Pre-Raphaelite, he was a friend and follower of Burne-Jones whose influence can be discerned in the style and subjects of his works starting from his masterpiece Love and the Maiden (1877).

In 1856 Edward Coley Burne-Jones moved to the former flat of Rossetti and Deverell in London, filling it with medieval-style furniture of their own design. This experience led to their founding together with other members (including Rossetti and Madox Brown) of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner&Co, which manufactured furniture and applied arts.

Edward Coley Burne-Jones, The Temple of Love, 1872

The Temple of Love considers the theme of love across the classes. Initially, it was a small design for an illustration. Then it became an architectural scale painting, inspired by Andrea Mantegna’s painting Madonna della Vittoria in the Louvre Museum (1496).

John Brett, The British Channel Seen from the Dorsetshire Cliffs, 1871

John Brett (1831-1902) painted The British Channel Seen from the Dorsetshire Cliffs, oil on canvas, with jewel-like and expressive colours that intensify the emotion of the scene depicting nature in all its beauty.

By the 1880s, Pre-Raphaelite gained fame and success and was influencing the art and design of many other countries. Artists were depicting women as strong, mysterious, disruptive forces, goddesses, enchantresses and other ‘femmes fatales’, to support more equal rights. The Lady of Shalott describes a heroine cursed to die if she leaves her task of embroidering scenes viewed in a mirror in her tower. The artist Waterhouse painted in an atmospheric style closer to Impressionism.


Nineteenth-Century Artworks:
Interesting Results & Upcoming Deals


Left: Antonietta Brandeis, Venice, the Entrance to St Mark’s Basilica; Right: Gabriel Cornelius Ritter von Max, Traviata

Antonietta Brandeis (1849-1910), Venice, the Entrance to St Mark’s Basilica
With a price estimate of 6.000 – 9.000 € was sold at a much higher price at auction “19th Century Paintings” | 29th April 2019 | Dorotheum, Vienna. See Price Results...

Gabriel Cornelius Ritter von Max (1840-1915), Traviata
The painting is inspired by Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata, based on Alexandre Dumas’ novel “La dame aux camélias”. At the center is the courtesan Violetta Valéry, with whom the young Alfredo Germont falls in love. With a price estimate of 15.000 – 20.000 € it was sold at the auction “19th Century Paintings” | 29th April 2019 | Dorotheum, Vienna. See Price Results...

Left: Marie Egner, Altweibersommer [Indian summer]; Right: Julius Leblanc Stewart, Five O’Clock Tea

Marie Egner (1840-1950), Altweibersommer [Indian summer]
“19th Century Paintings” | 29th April 2019 | Dorotheum, Vienna. Presented with a price estimate of 40.000 – 60.000 €, it was sold at a higher price. Impressed by the works of the French Barbizon School, Marie developed her style and she won some recognition by the audience with her large flower and fruit still lifes. See Price Results...

Julius Leblanc Stewart (1855 – 1919), Five O’Clock Tea
This magnificent painting depicts a scene during Tea time. It was estimated 1.000.000 – 1.500.000 USD. The artist shows a common scene in domestic spaces. 19th Century European Art – online Sotheby’s Auction. See Price Results...

Upcoming Deals at Auction


Left: Vittorio Matteo Corcos, Woman with Dog, 1885; Right: Giovanni Boldini, Market Scene, 1888

Vittorio Matteo Corcos (1859-1933) Woman with Dog
Corcos portrayed women, their charm and elegance with an almost maniacal attention to details. Woman with Dog is an example: a fashionable hat and a very elegant black dress. “Found Treasures, Impressionists and Modern Masterpieces from a private collection”, 29 October 2019 | Milano - Pandolfini Auction. See Price Estimate...


Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931) Market Scene
To be sold at “October Major Estates Sale: Day 1 of 2” on 12 October 2019| 16.00 pm - at New Orleans Auction Galleries. In Paris, Boldini gained success during the Belle Époque period painting beautiful and elegant women belonging to the aristocracy and upper middle class elite. Not one of his usual subjects, "Market Scene" is representing with fine lines a group of women at a market. See Price Estimate...


Left: Jean-Léon Gérôme, Markos Botsaris, 1874; Right: Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer, A tender moment

Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), Markos Botsaris
To be present at “European Art Part I” on 28 October 2019 | Christie’s Auction, New York, USA. The subject represented is a Greek general and hero of the Nineteenth century. Gérôme is famous for his historical, mythological and orientalist themes. See Price Estimate...

Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer (1839-1902), A tender moment
To be sold at “19th Century Paintings” on 23 October 2019 | Dorotheum Auction, Vienna. Kaemmerer specialized in French genre scenes set in the eighteenth century, featuring elegant ladies. He was successful in his lifetime, winning medals at the Salon in 1874 and at Paris’ Exposition Universelle of 1889, as well as being awarded the Légion d’Honneur in 1902. Tender moments and romantic scenes were well represented by artists of the 19th century. See Price Estimate...


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