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The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

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Submitted By yunnou
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The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, founded in autumn 1848, was an original artistic response to the revolutionary outbursts of the time in continental Europe. The mysterious letters “P.R.B.” features on the paintings of the young and completely unknown artists caused a stir in the English society. This group was comprised of London’s Academy students including John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt, each of whom was eager to change not only the principles of modern art but also the role it played in society. Combining scientific precision, an innovative approach to subject matter, and brilliant, clear colors, Pre-Raphaelitism was Britain's first avant-garde art movement.
The members of the Brotherhood were well aware of their place in the culture with non-existent traditions of religious art, which had been obliterated in the 16th century during the Reformation. The Pre-Raphaelites were faced with an uneasy task – to revive religious art without employing the canonical imagery of altar paintings.
Unlike the Renaissance masters, “P.R.B.” based their compositions not on imagination but on observations from everyday life.
While the Pre-Raphaelites approached the Bible as a source of human drama and searches for literary and poetic meaning, they also addressed provocative narratives of modern life that employed religious iconography. Their compositions, focused on social issues and daily activities, often grew into parables, demonstrating how the didactic rhetoric typical of religious painting infiltrated every corner of the Victorian era.
Historical compositions were the mainstay of the Pre-Raphaelite art. The British art scene was traditionally not interested in exiting battles and idealized classical compositions filled with lethargic naked models, it preferred to study history from novels and stage performances. Still the

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