The Pre-Raphaelites

The works of the Pre-Raphaelites are among the best known and best loved of all English paintings, and yet there has been a tendency to dismiss them as mere Victoriana, and to deny them their proper status as works of art. This pioneering critical history places the movement in its historical setting, relating the individual painters and their art to the larger concerns of nineteenth-century society. Virtually every major Pre-Raphaelite painting is discussed and illustrated, as well as works by the movement's many minor talents. 157 illus., 21 in color.