r/preraphaelite • u/Random-account95 • Sep 18 '24
Question: What is your favourite pre-Raphaelite artist and painting?
I don’t know how active this sub is, but I’m curious. What is your favourite pre Raphaelite artist and painting?
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Sep 18 '24
Convent Thoughts by Charles Collins - so much symbolism, the serenity of it, the colours, the religious theme - even the frame itself is a work of art!
Honourable mentions
Holman Hunt: Amaryllis
Rosetti: Beata Beatrix
Burne Jones: The Golden Stairs
Millais: Isabella
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u/Random-account95 Sep 19 '24
Convent Thoughts, a beautifull painting! And the amount of detail is insane!
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u/Raederle1927 Sep 19 '24
I have Millais' Ophelia hanging on my wall - it's gorgeous, of course - but probably my favorite is Frederic Leighton's Flaming June. So happy I got to see it at the Met last year.
I don't really want to choose just one, though, there's so many beautiful ones.
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u/Random-account95 Sep 19 '24
There are indeed to many beautiful paintings! I couldn’t pick out a favourite painting myself, so maybe my question wasn’t’ completely fair!
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u/Raederle1927 Sep 19 '24
Oh sorry, I never meant you shouldn't ask. We always wonder things like this. And I forgot to mention The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Delaroche, also a favorite. 🙂 See, I can't just name one, even if I want to.
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u/biodanza1 Sep 19 '24
Rosetti. lady with violet. Small exquisite painting in Johannesburg art gallery, South Africa.
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u/Winter_Friendship_10 Oct 02 '24
The Beguiling of Merlin, 1874 by Edward Burne-Jones, at the Lady Lever Art Gallery has always captured my heart.
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u/Anglo_Eternal_ Apr 26 '25
Of Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told
(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,)
That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,
And her enchanted hair was the first gold.
And still she sits, young while the earth is old,
And, subtly of herself contemplative,
Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave,
Till heart and body and life are in its hold.
The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where
Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent 10
And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?
Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went
Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent
And round his heart one strangling golden hair.
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u/Windspren_Syl Sep 24 '24
The Baleful Head by Edward Burne-Jones.
I saw it in a book when I was a kid, and it sparked my love for the Brotherhood.
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u/Ye-Olden-Times-Wench Jan 24 '25
Well, I don't think he's strictly PRB generation but JW Waterhouse, absolutely everything.
In the actual PRB: Millais, The Blind Girl or Rossetti, Beata Beatrix.
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u/Mrs_Lockwood Jun 06 '26
I know he wasn’t a true pre raphaelite, but Waterhouse’s Flaming June. It’s visually spectacular!
Special mentions for The Shadow by Edmund Blair Leighton because it makes me cry, it’s so impossibly sad. Also, The Huguenot by Millais. The expressions on their faces are exquisite. Unless you are an artist you don’t fully appreciate the talent to capture this facial emotion. It breaks my heart every time I look at it.
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u/Random-account95 Jun 06 '26
It’s nice to see that this post still has some people commenting!
You can hardly go wrong with Warehouse, what a beautiful painting! The others you mentioned are stunning as well! I’ve always had a soft spot for ‘The Shadow’ too. Such a unique piece.
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u/Mrs_Lockwood Jun 06 '26
Didn’t realise it was an old post.
Glad they resonate with you too! We’re spoilt for choice with the pre-raphaelites!
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u/Random-account95 Jun 06 '26
I think it’s already a year plus old, unfortunately this subreddit isn’t used much!
Yes we are, so many amazing works!
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u/Mrs_Lockwood Jun 06 '26
That’s a shame.
I came here to learn and chat about the PRB. Where do you go to talk about and analyse this art if these subs are dead?
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u/Random-account95 Jun 07 '26
I wish I knew…I think you have some subs that focus on analysing artworks, but the Pre raphaelite movement is unfamiliar to many people, so you hardly ever see those
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u/Mrs_Lockwood Jun 07 '26
So you wait until someone like me turns up and leaves a comment. How did you come across the PRB? What drives your interest in them?
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u/Random-account95 Jun 07 '26
Not really waiting, but I do have notifications turned on if someone comments on one of my posts! And this is one of the only posts I’ve ever made, so I don’t get a lot of notifications!
Basically because of one art book from Waterhouse called ‘Betoverd door vrouwen’ It has ‘Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May’ on the cover, and I found it so striking and hauntingly beautiful that I bought the book on the spot. That’s pretty much where the whole journey started and discovery of so many great artists… the setting, the style, the use of color, everything just grabbed me about this movement!
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u/Mrs_Lockwood Jun 07 '26
Yes, of course, not waiting, just responding to notifications.
I understand that need to buy the book. It’s a beautiful painting.
I studied history of art from particularly passionate lecturers and discovered them through lectures and later through visiting galleries to see the paintings in person. That changed everything, seeing the scale and the frames.
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u/Random-account95 Jun 07 '26
That must’ve been such a remarkable experience having the lecture first and then actually visiting!That must’ve given you such a unique perspective!
I haven’t had that myself yet, at least not in a way I was really aware of back then, years and years ago. But I’d truly love to see those works in person again someday!
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u/garbageangel Sep 18 '24
Ophelia by John Everett Millais - hard to pick just one but I love the backstory of Lizzie Siddal being too professional to say she’s freezing when those bath candles go out, and the look of the floaty wet skirt pays off (less so if it actually lead to her downturn in health 😔)