The Pre-Raphaelites

Francisco recommended and Edge and I visited the National Gallery's "Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848-1900."

I have a weakness for the Pre-Raphaelites--probably because they were so literary, and, as a result, are the prime candidates for use on every book cover, from Dante to Chaucer to Shakespeare.

Their themes are fascinating and over-the-top: they draw religion and nature and manual labor, often all in the same picture:

John Millais's Mariana: There's a shrine and the stained glass; the woman stretches from her handiwork; the mouse and leaves creep across the floor.

 They love metaphors; the more overt, the better:

William Holman Hunt, The Shadow of Death

Their paintings are bright and crisp--the realism is almost photographic at times, and yet there's an art there that transcends the real. Their subjects are androgynous and yet sensual. The subjects are remarkably similar to each other--there is more red hair and fair skin in their paintings, I think, than in the rest of art combined. All the subjects have the same look. In fact, it's funny to see Jesus as a Pre-Raphaelite, as if Pre-Raphaelite is an ethnicity.

What I really love is the Pre-Raphaelites' ability to capture other-wordliness. Below, Mary cowers on her bed in a portrayal of Mary at the Annunciation as vulnerable and frightened. (I love that the angel's feet are on fire.)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ecce Ancilla Domini!, or The Annunciation. His sister, Christina Rossetti, sat for Mary.

The exhibit highlights the overlap between the Pre-Raphaelites and William Morris and the decorative arts. I love William Morris, so to see Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting on William Morris furniture is just thrilling.

It's an excellent exhibit. If I lived in DC, I'd go back again right away.