The story of how a group of precocious young artists shook up the
British art establishment, told through their works, letters and
diaries.
An illustrated history of the linked lives and loves of a group of
supremely talented artists of late Victorian Britain through their
passionate writings. It features the painters, poets, critics and
designers: Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, Fanny Cornforth,
William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, William and Janey Morris,
Christina, Dante Gabriel, and William Rossetti, John Ruskin, William
Bell Scott and Lizzie Siddal.
The artistic aspirations and achievements of the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood are revealed alongside the interwoven dramas of their
personal lives, in letters, diaries and reminiscences, while their
genius is displayed in vivid paintings, drawings, designs and poems.
The Pre-Raphaelites was a charmed circles of love, friendship and art.
Within an ever-changing flow of affections, and intimacies as richly
patterned as a tapestry, they worked together as companions, lovers and
partners. They shared tragedy as well as happiness, critical hostility
as well as success, even the griefs of infidelity and discord.
These creative partnerships, which also created the firm William Morris
and Co, revitalised Victorian art and design.
The new edition publishes in time for the start of the Burne Jones
Exhibition at Tate Britain, starting in October 18. It is a vital book
in understanding the Pre-Raphaelite art, which remains as popular and
moving as ever.
