The Preraphaelites ...#12

Joining a community type philosophy of life to setting the rules of new way of painting, Rossetti, Hunt and Millais started their brotherhood using Ruskin's advices. I can stay for a very long time infront of their paintings, they are so rich and meaningful, though I doubt I would have one in my living room. They opened really new ways as William Morris created the arts and crafts branch and Burne-Jones did painting which were announcing cubism, specially Duchamp's "nu descendant un escalier" being to my feeling correlated to BJ's "golden staircase". I like the way they fought conventions during Victorian times, in their love lifes as well as in their artistic goals.

iza, originally uploaded by zapcomix.

"We cannot censure at present as amply or as strongly as we desire to do,
that strange disorder of the mind or the eyes, which continues to rage with unabated absurdity among a class of juvenile artists who style themselves PRB." -- The Times, 1851

PRB, originally uploaded by zapcomix.

The first painting Millais exhibited reflecting his new beliefs was Lorenzo and Isabella. It was received well by the Academy.The mysterious letters, PRB (standing from the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood) were included on Isabella's chair in the lower right corner and by Millais' signature. They can be seen above. I always wondered about the attitude of the guy left with his stretched white stockinged leg, a bit weirdly erotic with the phallic symbolism in contrast to Isabella's rather shy but bold expression. This scene is totally unreal.