A new page/group at Facebook, “The Mysterious World of the Pre-Raphaelites” has become a focal point for posting good photos of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, including many lesser known works by Waterhouse and others. The sheer number of these works that show painterly brilliance is not much appreciated or commonly known (at least to this author).

Some really interesting dialogues have arisen at the page and I will try to give one here:

David Maitland I’ll start you off.. Pre… Means… Before…

Aurea Castro The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.The three founders were joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner to form the seven-member “brotherhood”. Their principles were shared by other artists, including Ford Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes and Marie Spartali Stillman.

A later, medievalising strain inspired by Rossetti included Edward Burne-Jones and extended into the twentieth century with artists such as John William Waterhouse.

The group’s intention was to reform art by rejecting what it considered the mechanistic approach first adopted by Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. 

Webster Young Thank you…that means the name means literally pre-post Raphael … I wonder how “mechanistic ” is meant in their critique of the mannerism following Raphael. It would be very interesting if they saw that as a turning point in all art (because there is an equivalent in music).

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Kate Watson Webster Young When is it in music?

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Webster Young The change is around 1590, going from Palestrina into Monteverdi, and later resulting in Bach. In this case, this case, a pre Raphaelite in music would go back to Palestrina and avoid the major-minor system of Bach. There were a few Romantic composers who went in this direction – but not fully – Tchaikovsky and Brahms – and some of the impressionist and post impressionists – Debussy, Ravel. Later Erik Satie and Les Six -some of the time. In a way Debussy, at least some of the time, could be called pre-Raphaelite. (I myself have gone this way as a composer, but I am inspired more by Palestrina – that is why I am interested) 

Kate Watson thank you, off to go youtube and learn more

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Tooraj MeshganpooshTooraj Webster Young Wonderful analogy!

Tooraj MeshganpooshTooraj  The painter corresponding to Palestrina in you analogy would be early 15th Century Flemish master Jan Van Eyck.

Webster Young Tooraj, Interesting, thanks for your comments. Did you mean early 16th century? For myself, I think music does not necessarily equate with painting as a parallel in the timeline of history. May I also add (in case anyone else reading this thinks it) that I was not intending to equate Palestrina with any painter – if I had to, I don’t know who it would be…For me, maybe El Greco is in the ballpark because of his mysticism. Regards…

Claudia Pieroni Webster Young that’s interesting!

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Jenni Marion Manian Webster Young Nailed it.

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