Ophelia
The Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood formed in 1849 founded by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, James Collinson, John Everett Millais, William Michael Rossetti, Frederich George Stephens, Thomas Woolner and William Holman Hunt. They were later introduced to Ford Madox Brown, and were publicly supported by leading art critic John Ruskin, who encouraged them to paint from life with a truth to nature. The brotherhood rejected the followers of Raphael in their conventionalisation of his style into a formulaic imitation of his work. They were dissatisfied with the Royal Academy and looked to Fra Angelico and Sandro Botticelli as they saw a truer form of art in this period and positioned themselves in opposition to the doctrine of ‘art for art’s sake’, believing art should serve a moral purpose. The brotherhood were concerned with depicting late medieval scenes, female muses, beauty, sensuality and artistic purity through representational painting. They did engage with social issues of the Victorian period on occasion, in narratives which explored the issues of socialism, the chasm between the working class and the bourgeois, and social commentary on the role of women.
It is a difficult notion to consider Pre-Raphaelite art as concerned with the social issues of the Victorian period to a full extent. Pre-Raphaelite art is characterised by prominent works such as Millais’ Ophelia (1851-1852) and Rossetti’s Lady Lilith (1866-1868) which focus primarily on accurate depiction and symbolism of flowers, inspiration from literature (in this case Shakespeare and the Bible) and female beauty. There is a moralising undertone in the sense of Ophelia’s suffering in love and condemnation of Lilith’s biblical embodiment of the vain seductress with her swan like neck and exposed shoulder. Both Millais and Rossetti were criticised for falling into a vein of popular sentimentality in overemphasis of emotional narratives in their works. A movement whose intentions are to look backwards towards the late medieval and early Renaissance art will inevitably struggle to create modernity and fully engage with the social issues of the current era. It would also be a mistake to consider the members of the brotherhood’s main purpose as sociopolitical pioneers, when in reality the group was one of male companionship and hedonistic debauchery, frequenting in London’s pleasure gardens.
There are Pre-Raphaelite paintings which engage with the social issues of the Victorian woman’s role, such as Holman Hunt’s The Awakening Conscience (1853), depicting an adulterous couple. The woman rises out of the lap of the married man, in light of a spiritual revelation as she realises her sins and seeks redemption. The motifs of the cat playing with an injured bird symbolises the woman’s submissive position to her lover’s whims, and the man’s discarded glove shows her fate – soon to be cast off and end up as a prostitute. This theme of ‘fallen women’ is repeated in Rossetti’s Found (1854), depicting a prostitute discovered by a previous lover. A tied lamb in a cart, and intertwined hands reiterates her entrapment, as she is portrayed in a desperate state of shame. In a period of religious doubt, due to the rise of Darwinism, the Pre-Raphaelites could be argued as reinforcing religious doctrines of the sin of adultery and the sanctity of the woman’s role as submissive companion of her husband.
The Pre-Raphaelites formed during a period of industrialisation in Britain. This was an era of social unrest as working conditions were harsh and poverty was rising in the face of new technologies. Revolutions of working classes were spreading throughout Europe and threatened to reach Britain. Ford Madox Brown’s Work (1863) acts as a socialist manifesto, commenting on contemporary Victorian social issues of the stark contrasts between the working and upper classes. The right side periphery of the composition features the leisurely privilege of the bourgeoisie, whilst the central figure, the ‘navvy’, digs through the sewage tunnels – an initiative imposed to combat the rise of cholera. Another navvy is shown drinking beer, as it was safer than drinking water, emphasising the issue of alcoholism. The issue of unemployment is demonstrated through the avoidance of indolence in the Chickweed seller, the lowest social figure, actively participating in the consumerist cycle. Amongst the chaotic scene, the viewers eye is drawn to the central baby, highlighting the ill-fated destiny of the child whose mother is presumably dead, and father an alcoholic. The heroism of work is reiterated in Henry Wallis’ The Stone Breaker (1857), as the worker lies dead surrounded, in the twilight landscape, by the land he has laboured on throughout his life. The colour palette is muted, the horizon high, and the folds of his clothing almost indistinguishable from the rugged countryside. The viewer may not even notice the figure upon first glance, creating a poignancy in the insignificance of his death, as many of the working class gave their lives to the dangerous occupations of the Victorian era.
To conclude, Pre-Raphaelite art does engage with the religious, social and moral issues of their day. This however, is not exercised to the full extent of their social platform or potential. The brotherhood engaged with modern life subjects, but perhaps their desire to create a moralising undertone creates a forced sense of narrative. Furthermore, their doctrines of depicting history paintings, allegory, biblical fables and mimesis stunted their engagement with Victorian issues. Although social issues are representationally painted at times, I would argue that they did not depict the subject of Victorian life to a full extent, due to a predisposition with flouting current convention, to the detriment of rejecting any sense of the Symbolism necessary to evoke the moral and social truths of Victorian England.