The Pre-Raphaelites

Toward the middle of the 19th century, a small group of young artists in England reacted vigorously against what they felt was "the frivolous art of the day": this reaction became known as the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Their ambition was to bring English art (such as it was) back to a greater "truth to nature." They deeply admired the simplicities of the early 15th century, and they felt this admiration made them a brotherhood. Bursting into the spotlight in 1848 and shocking their peers with a new kind of radical art. This is a three-part series examining the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.