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The discussion relates to the effect of early Renaissance
painting on the Pre-Raphaelites and other influences that may have affected the
technique and completed work by this group during mid to late 19th
century and beyond.
When discussing the effects of one group of people with
another separated by a period of history we have to understand the external
affects of the changes that may have arisen during the period. Politics,
religion[i]
[1]
and views/perceptions of the population influences at the time as well as
materials and changes in medium and materials that may have some affect of the
end product[2].
British art during the 19th century had forgone a
dramatic number of changes such as training women artists and part acceptance
into the commercial environment. Patronage and the reduction in demand for
portrait painting, the death of the masters and mentors Constable (d.1837) and
Turner (d.1851) had left a complete void by 1852.
“By the second half of the nineteenth century an interest in art had reached epidemic proportions in Britain. It processed more art schools than any other country in Europe, as well as a multitude of institutions destined to improve the taste of adult members if the working classes and other sections of the population.”[3]
The group of men who formed the Pre-Raphaelites[4]
Brotherhood (PRB)[5] presented a
number of believes and an informal manifesto[6]
to promote, not a style, particular subject or medium but to challenge the
establishments formal methods of training artists[7]
at the Royal academy.
Many influences had changed these subjects and painting
styles such the ability to sell direct to the increasing more affluent public
rather than an elite section of the population as patrons. The working class
also became involved in the appreciation of art “Nor was this interest confined
to the upper and middle class”[8].
This lead to a group of artists expressing their own believes or creating a
niche for marketing reasons. There is a
question to the slight visual deviation from neo-classical work supported by
the Royal Academy or the popular Nazarenes formed in 1809 and Germanic styles
supported by Prince Albert[9]
or were the PRB creating their own niche for marketing to the audience[10]
of the ‘The Great Exhibition’ of 1851 just over a year after the
brotherhoods formation. The final assumption that can be made is that Rossetti
and perhaps Ruskin had sight of the partly translated Lives of the artist,
either from the 1568 part English version or a preview prior to its publication
of the 1850 fuller translation by “Mrs Jonathan Foster”[11].
Interestingly many of the books written by a cross section dismiss this theory,
“The Pre-Raphaelites did not have the fullness of historical knowledge and
imagination the Ruskin processed.”[12]
Moreover, Eyck, Jan van ‘Portrait of Giovanni (?) Arnolfini and his Wife was
purchase for or by the national galley in 1842[13]
and on public display.
The rules of the PRB read more like the formation of a
company or partnership[14]
than the constitution of an informal organization created to promote its
believes. The literal skills of the founders and those on its perimeter
Tennyson and Ruskin (author of Modern Painters[15])
may have been the primary idea behind the structure to a marketing organization
to counter adverse publicity. “Art critics had gradually assumed something
of a charisma and popularity of theologians. Ruskin was regarded as a
prophet,…”[16]. The support of Ruskin would have been a real
coup for the PRB or the Victorian version of a ‘Saatchi & Saatchi’
organisation and all that was required was a branding that fitted into a
section of the Victorian theological driven market place. Or perhaps a machine for Ruskin to promote
and extension of the Arundel Society[17]
and the Nazarenes style[18]
full on, releasing the dominance on the art market from the RA classical works.
No matter the moral or commercial primer for the formation
of the PRB the original members background of literacy is reflected in the
various mediums of the arts. The question is which cannon or genre is reflected
in the art or the founding group as the art from the second brotherhood is so
diverse and affected by the mass of changes in vernacular artists and those
from Paris France. Visually the Renaissance would have been directly compared
by the nativity of the Victorian art market through the lack of distributed
writings or displays of works from the era.
It is taken as read that various developments by the
second quarter of the Quattrocento artist such as Albetri’s prospective around
1430[19]
and foreshortening[20]
are techniques adopted by artist pre and post this period. The first quarter of the 14th
century like many cannon’s still contains conflicting 
images
without clear identification of the genre or cannon’s that historical or modern
academics have classified the work.
The one direct comparison that can be made between the respective groups is the use of gesso in the Resianance period or white paint[21] by the PRB as the foundation to the painting that provided intense luminosity. This was the opposite of the Academy use of tar in portrait painting that over a period dulled/blacken the work[22]. A visual comparison that can be made is that of Rossetti’s ‘The Annunciation’ renamed ‘Ecce Ancilla Domini’ executed in 1849-50 using his brother and sister as models.[23]
There
is evidence of symbolism by use of the flowers and walls in white representing
the virgin state and the religious hierarchy (the height of the angel) to that
of our lady. The academic dispute between Rossetti’s lack of ability similar to
the early Renaissance artist or emulating the style of era [24]
may continue to be contested. The question has to be asked if Rossetti actually
mistook late pagan works ‘as deemed to be by the papal[25]’
as the foundation for using iconography in this and other works or those of
Quattrocento.
The
Byzantine artist Lorenzo Veneziano The Annunciation[26]
1359 shows the bright colours and manner in which the cloth is handled during
the medieval period. Moreover the angel and Mary change positions in hierarchy
reducing the status of both figures.
Early PRB paintings contain a number of symbols similar to
that of early Renaissance works, unlike the High Renaissance. Similar to Hunt’s symbolic Scapegoat of
1854.
Academically
we are told that there are certain shapes that place art in the Renaissance
cannon. The pyramid/triangle frame more dominated in the 2nd and 3rd
quarters of the Quattro cento are delivered in that of the PRB works though
connected to academic teachings, which can be seen in various PRB works. Such as
Millais ‘Sir Isumbras at the Ford’ a painting which was widely
criticised, “It was greeted with a storm of abuse when it was exhibited at the
Academy”[27]
Burne
Jones in 1879 executes a detailed extraordinary long version of the
Annunciation[28]. Angel floating
in air though mythical is perhaps how the public dreamt where her position
should be like Burne-Jones dreams. Her feet still facing forward not dissimilar
to off set angles in Francesca’s Brea Altarpiece like many other
Renaissance paintings. Symbols are used such as the empty vase ‘virginal’
however perspective in the distance passage way is apparent unlike the
two-dimensional backgrounds seen in the paintings from Italy.
The
connection with literary works including Rossetti’s sister Christina, Keats[29],
Shelly, Tennyson created a number of romantic[ii]
as well as mythical works. The non-biblical literary connection
along with brightly coloured and realistic detailed background in Ferdinand
Lured by Ariel by Millais 1849 shows the ability of the artist to mix both
mythical and natural in real life. The
inclusion of the fairy was a firm favourite of the Victorians after the
publication in 1823 of the Grimm brothers and 1846 that of the Hans Andersen's
fairy tales [30].
Although efforts can be made to connect the PRB’s works with that of the Renaissance with token gestures of triangular formation, iconography and positioning of subjects in a hierarchical manner and simple love stories with heavy subtitles in the iconography, such as Lorenzo and Isabella[31] by Millais 1849. Further investigation into the traits show the majority of influences from the international school and the presence of the Van Eyck in the 1430’s in Italy and that of the Nazzarenes in the early part of the 19th century.
This can be seen in the use of landscapes through doors and windows in the religious paintings of both the PRB[32] and Renaissance artist. The manner in the way cloth is painted certainly is a technique developed by the great artist of the time, the use of bold colour can be argued as a gothic trait as well as one adopted by the Italian artist.
The question of the gothic influence would have been focused upon by Burne-Jones and Morris visit to the Lowlands[iii] in the 1855. The break up of the original Brotherhood lead to the formation in 1861 of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co and later the Morris & Co business. The foundations lay down by the PRB continued and the revival or Renaissance of the Medieval flourished in all sectors of the arts under the avant garde artists.
Bibliography
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Denvir B. The Late Victorians Art, design and society 1852-1910. 1986: Harlow.
Francastel.P. Medieval Painting. Translated Wolf. R.E. 1967: New York.
Gaunt W. The Pre-Raphaelite Tragedy. 1975 revised edition: London.
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Murray. P & L> The Art of the Renaissance.1963. reprinted 1967.
Norweich J.J. A Short History of Byzantium. London: 1998
Treuherz J. Victorian Painting. 1993: London.
Wilton A. Five centuries of British Painting. 2001: London.
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