Pre-Raphaelite Exhibition - sheer indulgence!

The Shadow of Death 1870-3 William Holman Hunt

Took time out of a busy schedule for a little self indulgence.  I had a plan A and B but A worked perfectly.  Without booking tickets I went off to Tate Britain to see the Pre-Raphaelites Victorian Avant-Garde exhibition. I even treated myself to the audio guide and spent several hours admiring wonderful paintings and some furniture, including William Morris' bed!  I am starting a course on the Pre-Raphaelites in January and it was recommended that we saw the exhibition first.  I didn't need telling as they are a bit of an obsession with me anyway!  I find that whole era fascinating, the stories surrounding the lives of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, their paintings, poetry, fabrics, stained glass windows and furniture.  William Morris is a really interesting character with his diverse creative output, Dante Gabriel Rossetti certainly liked women, bedded Morris' wife, his own wife took an overdose and some years after burying her with a book of his poems, had her grave dug up so he could retrieve them!  William Holman Hunt was very religious and went to the Holy Land to paint and the vibrant colours in his pictures really appeal to me.  John Everett Millais was the youngest of the group and painted the famous Ophelia.  The river and the foliage in the picture were painted by a river a few miles away from where I live and the model for Ophelia was Elizabeth Siddal, wife-to-be of Rossetti, who became extremely ill after posing in a bath of water with candles underneath to try to keep the water warm.  Siddal's father presented Millais with the doctors bill, which he paid!

Many other artists were on the edges of the group and painted 'in their style', such as Ford Madox Brown but as they moved into the art and crafts (aesthetic movement) others worked with them.  My favourite is Edward Burne-Jones.

I had already bought the exhibition catalogue a few weeks ago as there was an offer on it and free postal delivery.  As it's a heavy book it was good deal.  However, the gallery shop beckoned and I'm afraid I succombed!  I came home not only with a few postcards but also The Pre-Raphaelite Circle by Jan Marsh,  News From Nowhere by William Morris (a 'utopia' story) and a small pamphlet of 10 Pre-Raphaelite  Poems (Candlestick Press) and something not about the exhibition at all but a book on The Bloomsbury Group which also fascinates me.

A lovely, lovely day out.  The obsession continues!