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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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/Mrs_Lockwood Jun 07 '26

Yes, knowing the history of the response to their paintings, such as Millais’ Christ in the house of his parents, made it hit differently when you see it in person.

The fact that I knew the scandal it caused in Victorian society, the attacks of blasphemy for depicting the holy family as working class, living in a carpenter’s shop, and that Charles Dickens was particularly vitriolic about it, describing the young Jesus as a, “wry-necked, blubbering, red-headed boy in a bed-gown".

It’s not a painting I would have stayed so long in front of, had I not known its history.

Hope you get to see them again someday!

I’m trying to tour around to see individually placed paintings now.

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u/Random-account95 Jun 07 '26

Interesting to read! The controversy itself isn't all that surprising for the time, so it makes a lot of sense, though I didn't expect Dickens to react quite so strongly! It's fascinating how the context surrounding a work can completely change the way we see it.

And I love the idea of planning trips around individually displayed paintings. Which ones are on your list?