The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Formed in 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood challenged what its members regarded as the rigid, academic conventions of Victorian art. They looked to Italian art before Raphael, seeking its perceived purity, simplicity and vivid colour. Their work often combined detailed observation of nature with medieval and literary subjects drawn from figures such as Dante Alighieri, Arthurian legends and Shakespeare. Symbolic objects could give paintings meanings beyond their literal scenes. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, both painter and poet, exemplified the connection between visual art and literature.
- Nature and detail: Pre-Raphaelites valued close observation and intense detail.
- Literature and symbolism: Their subjects and meaningful objects drew on historical, literary and imaginative sources.
The Aesthetic Movement
Building on ideas associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, the Aesthetic Movement advanced the principle Art for Art's Sake: art should be valued for its beauty, not required to teach morality or solve social problems. Its emphasis on sensory experience included attention to colour, sound and texture.
Walter Pater, a leading English theorist of Aestheticism, stressed life’s fleeting nature and the importance of intense experiences, especially those offered by art and beauty. Aestheticism thus rejected moral instruction as art’s defining purpose and placed beauty at the centre of artistic experience. Its ideas influenced Oscar Wilde, who became a prominent embodiment of the movement.