In 1848, a group of young painters launched a movement that would change British art forever. John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt founded The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as a challenge to the contemporary academic style. Their pursuit of truth to nature opened up a new aesthetic world of flame-haired "stunners," mystical gardens, religious intensity, and erotic undercurrents. Their canvases radiated with light, color, and beauty. The Pre-Raphaelites helped to define late Victorian culture, inspiring the Arts and Crafts movement, and establishing a genre that captivates viewers to this day. From their scandalous love affairs to their profound meditations on love, death, and resurrection, the Pre-Raphaelites lived as passionately as they painted. Yet their enduring popularity was not always assured. By the mid-20th century, they had fallen into obscurity. Drawing on memoirs, letters, and firsthand accounts, this book is the story of their rise, fall, and remarkable revival. Here is how Millais, Rossetti, and Hunt created a school of art that continues to enchant more than a century and a half later. "Nick Louras is a first-rate historian and writer."-Midwest Book Review.
