I re-realized how much I love Pre-Raphaelite paintings. a brief overview: It was an artistic movement started in the late 1840's by a group of English painters and poets initially known as the pre-raphaelite brotherhood. this initial brotherhood consisted of William Holman Hunt, John Everett-Millais and Dante Gabriel Rosetti. Four more members quickly joined, making a seven member 'brotherhood' or club i guess. Their initial intention was to re-form art by rejecting the techniques they considered machinistic and "cliche" and bad art. They blamed in particular Raphael for they believed that " classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art." (whatever exactly that means) SO: they started painting using 'abundant' detail bold colours and complex compsition.
They are believed by some to be the first real avant-garde movement in art, although that title is dispute by many, "because they continued to accept both the concepts of history painting and of mimesis, or imitation of nature, as central to the purpose of art"
Anyway, here are some of my favorite paintings of theirs. I know many true art scholars will say that their art is frou-frou, soul-less and lacks a depth, but i really like it. Many of their subjects are taken from stories faerie tales and myths, as well as Shakespeare plays. (and by the way, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them. Also, the titles are below each picture, not above))
Probably the most well-known painting by a pre-raphaelite. although, Waterhouse began painting after several of the founding members had already died. he was one of the last, if not the last painters of this era. some don't even consider him strictly classified as such. Ive noticed that the earlier his paintings are, the more detail they have. And as they get older chronologically, they become less detailed. this one was done very early, 1888, compared with others from 1910.
John Everett Millais: The Black Brunswicker. (ENLARGE this one by clicking on it. it looks stunning)
ENLARGE this one too
Also ENLARGE this one
Now, William Adolphe-Bouguereau wasn't a pre-raphaelite. In fact, he was opposed to the pre-raphaelites. But this painting is still gorgeous. It is probably my favorite one...
Thank you for reading, and comment if you please.
6 comments:
I love these! Particularly the Ophelia Ones...and the last one. They're gorgeous!
I love Waterhouse. Especially this one and this one. The other paintings are gorgeous as well. I didn't know that they were part of a movement, that's so interesting.
p.s. I think you can make it your banner by clicking on 'layout' from your dsahboard then 'edit' on the header box, then uploading an image and choosing 'Instead of title and description'.
Brittany!! that worked exquisitely! thank you. I love 'Boreas' by Waterhouse too, and I could have sworn I put it up there, but it was 'Wildflowers' by him, same pose, but pinker. I love him. Thanks for looking and commenting and helping me.
You're most welcome. I'd never seen that 'Wildflowers' painting before, but now I definitely see the similarity to 'Boreas'. How cool.
That one model really got around! Seems she posed for Waterhouse the most. Or did all the cute girls back then just look pretty much the same? (There were some other ladies in your blog, but mostly that one.) -BW-
Waterhouse is associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, but was not a member of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and isn't really considered one. Bougereau isn't considered a pre-Raphaelite either. I do love all those paintings and artists though. :)
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