Art Captions

Author notes

0051. Cherry Ripe

CornTown

on Feb. 28, 2010

By John Millais. (1829-1896)
Circa. 1879
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Millais was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphelites, a group of artist that sot to bring back the styles of classical Renaissance art before it was adapted into mannerism. In particular, the brotherhood wished to make paintings up until the point of Raphael, but not any further, hence the name, “Pre-Raphaelites”. This movement can often be considered the first avant-garde movement in art as they rejected the works of later artists, particular of Sir Joshua Reynolds. However, the group has been denied this status, due to their acceptance of the history painting and of the imitation of nature as a central purpose of art. However, the Pre-Raphaelites undoubtedly defined themselves as a reform-movement, created a distinct name for their form of art. The group even published their own periodicals to promote their ideas to other artists.

Jacob “Corntown” Gray