Beyond the Brotherhood

Book excerpt: The term 'Pre-Raphaelite' is widely used but often little understood. This book untangles what Pre-Raphaelitism means. It includes the original Pre-Raphaelite Brothers, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and their immediate followers, Edward Burne-Jones and Evelyn De Morgan. It also looks at the assimilation of Pre-Raphaelites ideals and subjects into the Royal Academy tradition and the resurgence of mural painting and tempera in the early twentieth century. Even in the 1970s, the Brotherhood of the Ruralists attempted to recapture its spirit. Today it lives on in fantasy art and film; Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones.0Rather than seeing Pre-Raphaelitism as an historic style, this publication argues it is a living tradition. Exhibition: City Art Gallery, Southamtpton, UK (18.10.2019-01.02.2020) / Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bornemouth, UK (21.02.-21.06.2020).