Victorian Visions: Pre-Raphaelite Drawings and Watercolours from the National Museums & Galleries of Wales

“The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood [was] a small but influential association of artists determined to revive the purity of art before Raphael by returning to the legendary themes, vibrant colors and accumulation of detail characteristic of medieval art.”

– D. Tom Mack, Aiken Standard

“One doesn’t have to be an expert in 19th-century British art to appreciate ‘Victorian Visions’ . . . An interest in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movies, and an attraction to the lips of Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson, will do. “

– Jeffrey Day, The State

Victorian Visions showcased 67 exquisite drawings and watercolors from the National Museums & Galleries of Wales. Comprising works by Victorian artists, primarily the Pre-Raphaelites, this exhibition examined the methods and motivations behind drawings and paintings of this era.

The fraternity of artists known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) began as a response to and an outgrowth of the rapidly expanding British Empire toward the end of the Industrial Revolution. Seeking a haven from urban blight, and feeling alienated from an increasingly global, mechanized society, the PRB looked to a romanticized past derived mostly from mythology, religion, and idyllic poetry, such as Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. Ironically, they also sought patronage from the burgeoning middle class—a product of the machine age—and took ideas and inspiration from recent archaeological finds and from the influx of foreign art styles and exotic culture that came with Empire.

Reflecting the wide range of styles found in the museum collection, the diverse works of Victorian Visionsincluded careful portraits of recognizable individuals as well as fleeting sensory images or idealized impressions of people and landscapes. The exhibition uniquely combined works that were completed for sale with ones originally intended to be used as backgrounds for oil paintings.

Artists in this exhibition included Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Sir William Morris, William Burges, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Sir Edward Poynter.

Share this article:
More...