Pre-Raphaelite Paintings

Pre-Raphaelite painting began with a British Brotherhood formed in London in 1848, whose members looked toward medieval and early Renaissance art made before Raphael's later influence. Millais, Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt joined close observation of plants, fabrics, and faces with subjects drawn from religion and literature. Bright color and sharply described detail gave familiar narratives an unusually tangible setting, as in Millais's Ophelia, where flowers and riverbank vegetation surround the figure from Shakespeare. The Brotherhood dispersed during the 1850s, but artists associated with its later circle developed different methods and subjects. Burne-Jones's King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid uses elongated figures and a densely arranged architectural setting to present a legendary encounter. Original drawings and preparatory studies reveal the planning behind these compositions, from individual poses to the arrangement of complete narrative scenes.