Writing the Pre-Raphaelites: Text, Context, Subtext

Barringer (art history, Yale University) and Giebelhausen (art history and theory, University of Essex) present an unusual perspective on the Pre-Raphaelites. The articles in this study are all from art historians who examine the literature by and about the members of the group and those close to them. The emphasis is not on their artistic creations but on how they are and have been presented. The first essay discusses how the movement has been defined, using as a base the 1984 exhibition on the Pre-Raphaelites at the Tate Gallery and the work selected for it. The late nineteenth century success of many of the artists is seen through the opinions of art historians of the time, as their decline in the early twentieth century may have been hastened by critical reviews. The way the Pre-Raphaelites chose to present themselves and how they used new reproduction techniques to popularize their art are treated, especially in an article on the many reproductions of the paintings of John Everett Millais along with those of his many imitators. There is a unity to this collection that argues strongly that the Pre-Raphaelites, for all that has been written about them, are still seen through the distorting lenses of critics and their own egos. There are many illustrations and an exhaustive bibliography. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dr Michaela Giebelhausen is based at the University of Essex, UK. Tim Barringer is Paul Mellon Professor in the History of Art at Yale University, USA.