Includes a general history of the movement

This vibrant collection of essays claims that a complex network of texts by critics, biographers and diarists established the credibility and influence of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Throughout the twentieth century, Modernist taste failed to acknowledge the achievement of oppositional groupings such as the Pre-Raphaelites. The essays collected here, however, reveal that the British group anticipated later avant-gardes by using the written word to configure for itself a radical artistic identity. Public and critics alike were scandalized by the radicalism of Pre-Raphaelite painting, its unflinching portrayal of historical figures and of contemporary life, and its irreverent attitude to artistic convention. Pre-Raphaelitism's innovations were not confined to style: new forms of artistic identity and behaviour were explored. As the contributors interrogate the texts through which Pre-Raphaelitism was constructed, they demonstrate that the movement's wide influence as a cultural phenomenon derived from the interplay between exhibited works and critical discourse. Applying a range of sophisticated methodologies from the fields of literary studies, art history, and cultural studies, these interdisciplinary essays uncover the neglected role of texts in the success of the Pre-Raphaelite rebellion and argue in favor of a new centrality for this movement in the history of nineteenth-century European culture.

This publication is issued in conjunction with the 1998 exhibition of the same name held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and scheduled for venues in England and France. Burnes-Jones (1833-1898) created a style that had widespread influence on both British and European art--a narrative style derived from medieval legend and fused with the influence of Italian Renaissance masters, a style that ceded popularity to a growing taste for abstraction at the end of the 19th century. Now Burne-Jones's star has risen again, and this catalogue contains full discussion of his life and work and representation of his prodigious output of drawings and paintings. 9.5x12.5"Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This illustrated book focuses on the Pre-Raphaelite artists and their radical departure from artistic conventions. Barringer explores the meanings encoded in Pre-Raphaelite paintings and analyses key pictures and their significance within the complex social and cultural matrix of 19th century Britain.