The Pre-Raphaelites

The Pre-Raphaelites are one of the most important poetic groups of Victorian England. They are also called the 'sub-Tennysonian' group of poets sometimes. The major names involved are Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his sister Christina Rossetti, Swinburne, William Morris and so on. Some of them were also painters like D.G. Rossetti himself. The Brotherhood of the Pre-Raphaelites were established in 1848 and they brought out a magazine called The Germ. Other members of the group were Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.

They named themselves after the Renaissance master of painting Raphael and tried to go back to the painting styles that were dominant before him by returning to the Middle Ages.

Some of the most significant features of their work are---

1. Use of Medieval forms like ballad and so on.

2. Strong pictorial quality.

3. Lyricism and Romantic subjectivism.

4. Emphasis on colours, numbers--a private brand of symbolism.

5. Fleshliness, sensuality.

6. Art for Art's sake or an aestheticist position in an avant garde spirit, not caring much for the social function of art.