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The Black Brunswicker, 1860 by John Everett Millais |
Descriptive detail is one of the most proper means to convey truth and
realism: this is what John Ruskin, a great British writer and art critic of the
nineteenth-century believed. The artists' group known as Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood took a leaf from Ruskin’s book and succeeded in recreating the concept
on their colourful canvases.
Instead of pursuing the mechanical style of mannerism that was followed
after Raphael and Michelangelo, the artists like Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
William Morris, John Everett Millais, and William Holman
Hunt preferred the painting style of the late Middle Ages and early
Renaissance artists.
If we stamp the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as the first Avant-Garde
movement, we would not be far from the truth. Depiction of genuine idea and
precise study of nature were the prominent features of these artists.
Look at the painting titled “Christ in the House of His Parents” done
by John Everett Millais. Here we would visualise both of these aspects: the genuine depiction and precise study of nature. In this painting, Millais
has shown the most accurate realistic approach. See the objects he had painted.
Objects, other than the men, women and the child. He had painted almost the
real visual of the house of a carpenter. These objects are so delicately and
precisely painted. Obviously, Jesus as a child and his mother Marry are two
main figures grabbing our attraction.
The contemporary art critics had not taken this painting with due sympathy.
It was rejected by branding an unworthy to blasphemous. No other than the great
writer Charles Dickens had said that in this painting the family of a Godly
person as Jesus was shown as a family of the poor labourer. However, the
artists attached with Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood would not be discouraged. They
continued remaining devoted to their art showing naturalism and realism.
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Christ in the House of His Parents-by John Everett Millais |
Founded in 1848 in the city of
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Beata Beatrix Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
Gabriel Charles
Dante Rossetti was one of the painters who belonged to the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood movement of art. Hee was a man of different mood and
characteristic, as an artist. Here is what his sister, Cristina Rossette, said
once: “He feeds upon her face by day and night, And she with true
kind eyes look back on him, Fair as the moon and joyful as the
light: Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim; Not as she is, but
was when hope shone bright; Not as she is, but as she fills his
dream.”
British painters John Godward and John William
Waterhouse. They carried forward the depiction of reality almost in the
photorealistic style of painting. The collection of paintings done by John
Godward is like an icon of the beauty of women shown in art. Though the subjects
chosen by John William Waterhouse came from mythology and history, he
maintained the depicting of realistic pattern alive.
Artists: Painting Shakespearean Themes: Shakespeare has been one of the
major sources of inspiration for most of the great painters of the past and
present. Here are some of the artists who have chosen the themes and scenes
from the writings of Shakespeare. Joseph Noel Paton was an
artist who painted under the style of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Born in
Scotland in the year 1821, Paton was had tried his family business of a
weaver for a time. But his artistic fire dragged him to
theRoyal Academy of arts.
The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania: He had painted several portraits
and paintings which are based on mythology. But the painting, The quarrel of Oberon and Titania was a unique one. It was based on the
story of the play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' written by Shakespeare.
In this painting, Paton has shown Oberon and Titania. These characters are
king and queen of one of the fairy tales. The couple is shown as quarrelling
over the possession of the child who was carried off to the fairy realm
and replaced by a fairy child. The imaginative part of this painting is very
strong. All the creatures, the part of a fairy tale, painted in beautiful style
lead our eyes to the central figures of Oberon and Titania.
If we look at the above painting closely, we can see how the main figures
are put into the centre and wide space is put in all the sides. But space
enhances the meaning and importance of the painting by leading the eyes of
viewers to the figures of Oberon and Titania. It is the artist's skill that has
created such a feeling of relationship between the figures and space on the
frame.
Paton family had done much contribution to the art of painting, literature
and sculpture. One more historical fact. His son Frederich was posted as the
director of commercial intelligence in the government of India.
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