The Pre-Raphaelites. Robert de la Sizeranne

to see Brother Egidio and Saint Louis moving silently toward one another in the depths of the old chapel, as in the legend where they see one another for the first time, embrace without exchanging a single word, and leave one another forever…

      At the time when the young Hunt read his first work, John Ruskin was not yet a universally-known author whose books were reproduced by the million, but his keen words already carried authority. However, this authority was only honorary; he was listened to but not followed. To create a revolution in painting, even the most eloquent criticism is not sufficient: one needs painters to do the job. John Ruskin did not find them close to him, and scanned the horizon to no avail, wondering if a few new men might appear whom he could make into his disciples.

      Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Wedding of St. George and Princess Sabra, 1857.

      Watercolour on paper, 36.5 × 36.5 cm.

      Tate Britain, London.

      Dante Gabriel Rossetti, How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Percival Were Fed with the Sanct Grael; but Sir Percival’s Sister Died by the Way, 1864.

      Watercolour on paper, 29.2 × 41.9 cm.

      Tate Britain, London.

      Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Sir Galahad at the Ruined Chapel, 1859.

      Watercolour on paper, 29.3 × 33.9 cm.

      Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery, Birmingham.

      Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Before the Battle, 1858, retouched in 1862.

      Transparent and opaque watercolour on paper, mounted on canvas, 41.4 × 27.5 cm.

      Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

      The Pre-Raphaelite Battle

      This was the state of affairs in England when, one evening in the year 1848, three young painters who worked in the same studio were taking tea at the home of the most wealthy among them. One was of Italian origin and the other two were English, and they were friends in the same way as sailors who set sail together and depend upon one another for help. They were thumbing through a collection of engravings by Campo Santo de Pise that lay on the table. All three of them were weary of the banalities of their school, and had been searching for several years for a master to whom they could devote themselves in order to escape from general movements, stereotyped poses and expressions traced from the classics, each new tracing diluting the primitive beauty of the original. These frescoes by Campo Santo were a revelation. Thousands of tourists had already passed before them without creating a new school of painting. But these tourists were not tormented by the desire to create a place for themselves away from Leslie, Maclise and Mulready, to blaze a new trail at any cost; they did not have the zeal of these twenty-year-olds…

      The young men spoke of simple, individual, conscientious art employing neither formulae nor studio practices, the art of Benozzo Gozzoli and of Orcagna. “In this art, there is only the most meticulous, thorough imitation of nature possible, and the naive expression of religious ideas. Look at the expression of this horse! And see how this hermit prays with all his heart! And what colour should all this be? It should have the colours of van Eyck’s work, fresh and brilliant! Colours applied directly to a white canvas… What has made art banal is that there is no longer this direct pursuit of nature. And it was lost quite a while ago! Rubens had already lost it, as had Carrache… even Jules Romain, even Raphael had lost it! To find masters that we can follow fearlessly, we will need to look to the period before Raphael, ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ art.” The night carried on, and teacups were emptied one after the other. When the last one was finished, Pre-Raphaelitism had been born.

      Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Bower Meadow, 1850–1872.

      Oil on canvas, 86.3 × 68 cm.

      Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester.

      Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Dante’s Vision of Rachel and Leah, 1855.

      Watercolour on paper, 35.2 × 31.4 cm.

      Tate Gallery, London.

      These three friends were Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. All three of them had great natural abilities and a furious desire to succeed, and this trio made a perfect whole. Hunt had faith, Rossetti eloquence, and Millais talent. The Italian was more poetic, Millais was more of a painter, and Hunt was more Christian. Rossetti, anxious and agitated, needed to prophesy something, anything, to anyone who came along. The conscientious Hunt needed to believe in something and devote himself to a great cause. The practical and ambitious Millais needed a theory to set him apart from the crowd of skilful painters and was unconcerned with believing or prophesying. They set to work. Rossetti recruited adepts somewhat randomly, Hunt took great pains to conform to the precepts of the cult, and Millais reaped the applause. Seeing the leader, people said “How well he speaks!” Observing the disciple, they said “How devoted he is!” and seeing their friend, “He makes such beautiful things!” Only after many long years did it become apparent that the disciple did not do what he was told, and that their friend was successful only because he did not listen to the leader or imitate the disciple.

      In France, these revolutionaries would have been content with supporting the same ideals and going to the same café for meetings. But in England, where three admirers of Shakespeare or Browning could not meet without forming a Shakespeare Reading Society or a Browning Discussion Group, the Pre-Raphaelites created a Brotherhood. And, as all Englishmen have a pronounced taste for following their names with a few different letters, with three or four specimens from the alphabet, they decided that each Pre-Raphaelite Brother would include the initials of his new title, P.R.B, in his signature. They included them in the addresses of their letters when writing to one another, but this sign of brotherhood was most important on their works. Seven of the young painters of the day had the right to call themselves P.R.B. Three talented men, even ones as gifted as Hunt, Millais, and Rossetti, cannot make as much noise as one hundred mediocre ones, and they accepted four other Pre-Raphaelite brothers: Michael William Rossetti, who did not paint; Woolner, who did not paint either, but sculpted sometimes, when he was not in Australia searching for gold with his feet in the icy water and his head in the sun; Stephens, who ended up confining himself entirely to literature; and Collinson, who after having tried in vain to paint Elisabeth of Hungary, converted to Catholicism and entered a seminary, where he was assigned the task of polishing boots to teach him humility. Later, the absent and hopeless members were replaced by three newcomers: Deverell, Hughes and Collins, but these were only helpers. They escorted the trio of founders, gathering and rousing the crowd around them, writing articles, attracting attention and ensuring that the group was noticed. It was Rossetti, Hunt and Millais who had challenged official art. It was they who had to wage the battle and, given their limited resources, either emerge victorious or disappear.[11]

      Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Venus Verticordia, 1864–1868.

      Oil on canvas, 98 × 70 cm.

      Russel-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth.

      Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and John Henry Dearle (design) and Morris & Co. (production), Holy Grail Tapestry – Quest for the Holy Grail Tapestries – The Arming and Departure of the Knights, 1895–1896.

      High warp tapestry, wool and silk weft on cotton warp, 244 × 360 cm.

      Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery, Birmingham.

      Edward Burne-Jones, The Golden Stairs, 1880.

      Oil

11

On the fashion in which Rossetti recruited Woolner, it is interesting to read this comment from Harry Quilter: “It is possible that Woolner was never a Pre-Raphaelite by choice, because we found out that it was Rossetti who had claimed him as his own, because of the principles according to which he had written (according to Rossetti) My Beautiful Lady. It seems that this poem was not written according to any principles, and that Rossetti, as he was looking for converts, had decided while admiring the poem that his appreciation could only have come from the fact that these verses were Pre-Raphaelite. Preferences in Art.